To assist doctors in diagnosing Ebola quickly, HHS in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) www.phe.gov is pursuing the development of an Ebola virus diagnostic test for use in doctor’s offices, hospitals, clinics, or in the field that will provide results in 20 minutes.
Diagnosing Ebola virus infections quickly in resource poor areas would enable healthcare providers to isolate and provide necessary treatment and supportive care to patients suffering from Ebola and would help limit the spread of the disease.
The development of a simple low-cost lateral-flow test called the oraQuick rapid Ebola antigen test is going to take place under a $1.8 million contract with OraSure Technologies Inc., www.orasure.com headquartered in Bethlehem Pennsylvania. The contract could be extended for up to 39 months and up to $10.4 million
In addition, OraSure will evaluate whether the test can be used in the post mortem analysis of oral fluids. During the current epidemic, people died before Ebola virus infections could be confirmed, yet the bodies of people infected with the virus would have remained highly infectious.
A simple rapid test that could determine disease status quickly from the body’s oral fluids would facilitate infection control efforts and support the appropriate handling of remains infected with the Ebola virus
The OraQuick rapid Ebola antigen is the first Point-of-Care Ebola virus testing device to receive ASPR’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) support. BARDA www.phe.gov/about/barda/Pages/default.aspx also supports the development of vaccines to prevent Ebola along with therapeutic drugs to treat the disease.
BARDA is seeking additional proposals for advanced development of new drugs and products to diagnose and treat Ebola and related illnesses. Proposals are being accepted through the Broad Agency Announcement (BAA-BARDa-13-100-SOL-00013) available at www.fbo.gov.
As announced, HHS has selected nine health departments and associate partner hospitals to become special regional treatment centers for patients with Ebola or other highly infectious diseases.
To help develop the regional treatment centers, ASPR has awarded $20 million through their Hospital Preparedness Program (HPP) to improve the centers’ capabilities to care for patients with Ebola or other highly infectious diseases. ASPR will provide an additional $9 million to the recipients in the next four years to sustain their readiness.
Each awardee will receive about $3.5 million over the full five year project period. This funding is part of the $339.5 million in emergency funding Congress appropriated to enhance state and local public health and healthcare system preparedness.
The nine awardees and their partner hospitals are:
- Massachusetts Department of Public Health with MGH
- New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene with New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation and HHC Bellevue Hospital Center
- Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene with Johns Hopkins Hospital
- Georgia Department of Public Health with Emory University Hospital, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, and Egleston Children’s Hospital
- Minnesota Department of Health with the University of Minnesota Medical Center
- Texas Department of State Health Services with University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston
- Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services with the Nebraska Medical Center
- Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment with Denver Health Medical Center
- Washington State Department of Health with Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center and Children’s Hospital
HHS is also working with state health officials and hospital executives in Region IX which includes Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, and the Pacific island territories plus freely associated states to identify a partner hospital awardee.