Mailman School of Public Health researchers develop diagnostic test for...( March 13 2006--Researchers at the Gree...),Health

March 13, 2006--Researchers at the Greene Infectious Disease Laboratory at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health led by Thomas Briese, PhD, associate professor of Epidemiology, have developed a rapid, comprehensive diagnostic test for viral hemorrhagic fevers caused by the Ebola and Marburg viruses, as well as others. The new diagnostic tool is addressed in a paper published in the April 2006 issue of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Emerging Infectious Diseases. (The paper can be found online at www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol12no04/05-1515.htm)

Increasing international travel, trafficking in wildlife, political instability, and terrorism have made emerging infectious diseases a global concern. Viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHF) are of specific concern because they are associated with high morbidity and mortality (up to 80% mortality rates), and the potential for rapid dissemination through human-to-human transmission. The term "viral hemorrhagic fever" characterizes a severe multisystem syndrome associated with fever, shock, and bleeding caused by infection with one of a number of viruses, such as Ebola or Marburg.

"Currently, there is no way to treat most of these outbreaks," stated W. Ian Lipkin, MD, director of the Jerome L. and Dawn Greene Infectious Disease Laboratory at the Mailman School, and professor of Epidemiology, Neurology and Pathology at Columbia University. He added, "The most important first step is diagnostic--rapid identification of the exact pathogen responsible for an outbreak of disease is critical for containment and the implementation of public health measures, especially in instances where the agents are encountered out of their natural geographic context."

While other tools exist for the detection of VHF agents, none offers the sensitivity and speed of this new diagnostic screen, which incorporates MassTag PCR technology--providing the ability to simultaneously consider multiple
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Contact: Randee Sacks Levine
rs363@columbia.edu
212-305-8044
Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health
16-Mar-2006

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