Friday, December 05, 2014

Good News.

I quote:
BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Mali has received its first mobile Ebola lab, which can be deployed to remote hotspots if needed.
The new lab, donated by Germany and unveiled Thursday, could be used to test samples in remote hotspots in a few hours. Previously, samples had to be brought to the capital, and a day was lost before results were known.
Speedy tests are vital to containing Ebola because infected people get treated faster and non-infected people spend less time on wards where they might catch the disease.

This is really good news.
A vast amount of aid has been reaching Mali from different sources to try and prevent the spread of the disease, but I know through  Keita and other contacts in the medical profession that one of the greatest concerns is what happens if an ebola suspect turns up in a health centre in a small town or a rural area. There have been no Ebola kits dispensed for the laboratory staff in the majority of Malian health centres. In Djenne for instance there is nothing provided. Who is going to carry out the highly dangerous task  of taking a blood sample from a suspected ebola patient without safety kit?  With this new mobile unit, presumably the suspected case will just be isolated until the lab unit arrives.

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