幾滴指血 當場確診埃博拉感染

Searching for a new way to attack Ebola, companies and academic researchers are now racing to develop faster and easier tests for determining whether someone has the disease.

爲了尋找對抗埃博拉的新方法，相關公司和學術研究人員正在競相研發更快、更易判定是否感染埃博拉的方法。

Such tests might require only a few drops of blood rather than a test tube of it, and provide the answer on the spot, without having to send the sample to a laboratory.

此類檢測方法可能只需要幾滴血，而不是整個試管，當場就可以知道結果，不必將樣本送到實驗室。

The tests could be essential in West Africa, where it can take days for a sample to travel to one of the relatively few testing laboratories, leaving those suspected of having the disease in dangerous limbo.

這種檢測方法在西非可能是不可或缺的。西非的檢測實驗室相對較少，樣本到達實驗室需要幾天的時間，致使那些可能感染疾病的人處於危險之中。

Rapid tests might also be used to screen travelers at airports, providing a more definitive answer than taking their temperatures.

快速檢測的方法也可能用於機場對旅客的檢測，結果會比體溫檢測更可靠。

“There’s a great deal of interest in a technology that can screen large numbers of people from a finger prick in only a few minutes,” said Cary Gunn, chief executive of Genalyte, a company in San Diego that says its approach can do just that. “You can imagine testing an entire planeload of passengers and screening through them cost-effectively.”

“大家對在幾分鐘時間內通過手指點刺對一大批人進行檢測的技術有着濃厚的興趣，”自稱能夠做到這一點的聖迭戈Genalyte公司首席執行官卡里·甘(Cary Gunn)說。“用低成本的方法對飛機上所有乘客進行檢測是有可能的。”

The World Health Organization is encouraging development of rapid tests, as is the federal government. The Food and Drug Administration is giving emergency authorization for use of qualified Ebola tests. On Oct. 25, it gave such a clearance for a one-hour test developed by BioFire Defense, although that test requires more than a few drops of blood and is typically sent to a laboratory. “It would have taken years to get this product approved through the traditional process,” said Kirk Ririe, chief executive of the company, which is based Salt Lake City and owned by the French diagnostics firm BioMérieux.

像聯邦政府一樣，世界衛生組織(The World Health Organization)也在鼓勵研發快速檢測的方法。美國食品與藥品管理局（Food and Drug Administration，簡稱FDA）給予合格的檢測方法緊急使用授權。10月25日，FDA給予BioFire Defense研發的耗時一小時的檢測方法此類授權，儘管這種檢測需要的不只是幾滴血，而且通常需要將樣本送往實驗室。該公司首席行政官柯克·裏利(Kirk Ririe)說，“傳統的批准程序需要幾年的時間。”這家位於鹽湖城的公司歸法國診斷公司生物梅里埃公司(Biomerieux)所有。

Companies are hoping to get their tests into the field in Africa in the next few months, but it is not clear how many will be in time to make a difference in the outbreak. And some health specialists caution that while one company after another is announcing an Ebola test, there is little information about their accuracy.

相關公司希望未來幾個月在非洲使用他們的檢測方法，但目前尚不清楚多大規模的檢測才能及時阻止疫情的蔓延。一些衛生專家警告稱，雖然一個又一個的公司公佈了埃博拉檢測方法，但幾乎有沒有關於檢測準確性的信息。

Even in the United States, delays can occur, with samples being sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta or some state public health laboratories.

即便是在美國，也可能出現延遲，因爲樣本要被送到亞特蘭大的疾病控制與預防中心（Centers for Disease Control and Prevention，簡稱CDC），或是其他州立公共衛生實驗室。

It took about two days for the confirmation that Thomas Eric Duncan was infected after his second visit to a Dallas hospital.

達拉斯的一家醫院在托馬斯·埃裏克·鄧肯(Thomas Eric Duncan)第二次前往就醫後，用了大約兩天時間才確診他被感染了。

With flu season coming, hospitals might benefit from having a quick way to rule out Ebola for certain patients as their emergency rooms fill with people with fevers and other symptoms that overlap with those of Ebola.

隨着流感季節的臨近，迅速排除某些病人感染了埃博拉這個可能性的辦法，可能會讓醫院受益。在流感季節，醫院急診室將擠滿出現了發燒等和埃博拉相同症狀的病人。

The standard testing technique for Ebola is known as reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, or RT-PCR. It amplifies the genetic material of the virus, allowing even tiny quantities to be detected. It is very accurate if done correctly.

標準的埃博拉檢測技術被稱作逆轉錄聚合酶鏈反應，簡稱RT-PCR。該技術會放大埃博拉病毒的遺傳物質，甚至還能探測到少量病毒。如果操作正確，這種技術非常準確。

But PCR generally requires a tube of blood and is performed by trained personnel on a sophisticated machine. A test can take two to six hours or more and cost about $100.

但聚合酶鏈反應通常要使用一管血液，並且要由訓練有素的人員在精密儀器上操作。一次檢測可能要花6個小時，甚至更久，花費大約是100美元（約合610元人民幣）。

BioFire’s FilmArray test, the one authorized for emergency use by the F.D.A., is a PCR test that can be done in one hour.

BioFire公司的FilmArray檢測也是一種聚合酶鏈反應，能在一個小時以內完成檢測。該技術得到了FDA的應急授權。

More than 300 hospitals already have one of BioFire’s $39,000 machines, which they have been using to test for other diseases. Now they can test for Ebola on site, though positive findings are supposed to be confirmed by the C.D.C.

已有300多家醫院配備了該公司價值3.9萬美元的儀器，不過它們一直被用來檢測其他疾病。現在，它們能現場檢測埃博拉，儘管呈陽性的檢測結果需得到CDC的確認。

A BioFire machine is in a special isolation ward used to treat Ebola patients at Emory University Hospital, and an instrument was delivered to Bellevue Hospital Center in New York after Dr. Craig Spencer was admitted for treatment.

在艾默裏大學醫院(Emory University Hospital)，BioFire公司的一臺儀器被安放在一間用於治療埃博拉患者的特殊隔離病房裏。在接治克雷格·斯潘瑟醫生(Craig Spencer)後，貝爾維尤醫院中心(Bellevue Hospital Center)也配備了一臺這樣的儀器。

What would be most valuable in Africa, some health specialists say, is a test that takes a few minutes, as the person awaits results, and costs a few dollars at most.

一些衛生專家稱，在非洲，可以在被檢測人在場情況下幾分鐘內得出結果，而且最多隻花幾美元的檢測，纔是最具價值的。

Various companies and organizations are working to develop such tests, including France’s Atomic Energy Commission, the Institut Pasteur, the German company Senova and the American companies Corgenix, NanoBioSym, Nanomix and others.

包括法國的原子能委員會(Atomic Energy Commission)和巴斯德研究所(Institut Pasteur)，德國的Senova公司，以及美國的Corgenix、NanoBioSym和Nanomix等公司在內的多家公司和組織，均在努力開發這類檢測。

“We have been working since March, shoulders against the wheel, to be ready to roll these out in quantities that would make a difference in the outbreak,” said Dr. Robert Garry, a professor of microbiology at the Tulane University School of Medicine.

“從3月份以來，我們一直在堅持不懈地努力，以便準備批量推出這種檢測，這樣疫情可能會有所不同，”杜蘭大學醫學院(Tulane University School of Medicine)的微生物學教授羅伯特·加里博士(Robert Garry)說。