"There’s a lot of potential for other cases:" New Orleans scientists develop rapid test for Ebola virus

NEW ORLEANS (WITI) -- Scientists in New Orleans say they've reached a milestone in the fight against Ebola. Tulane University researchers have developed a new rapid test for the deadly virus, and it has just received approval from the FDA.

FOX6's sister station WGNO in New Orleans reports Tulane’s Dr. Robert Garry has spent the last several months frantically working to find a way to help control the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

“We’ve seen it spread now internationally to the United States, to Spain. There’s a lot of potential for other cases. We don’t want to see this virus turn up in other parts of the world that have poor health care infrastructure,” Dr. Garry said.

That's why Dr. Garry has devoted much of his time to developing and perfecting a test that would detect the Ebola virus in minutes, not days. He’s part of a team of close to 200 people based in Sierra Leone. The test he's helped to develop not only provides a quick answer, Dr. Garry says it’s also safer.

“The current test requires that you take a tube of blood from a person’s arm. First of all, that’s a risk for the person drawing the blood. What our test allows you to do is just use a finger prick. A very safe device, a small drop of blood. You can put a band-aid over it. You don’t have to expose the person drawing the blood to the risk of a needle or a needle stick. Then you take that small drop of blood, put it on this device and 15 minutes later you have a result,” explains Dr. Garry.

As of now, a patient with signs of Ebola would have to wait 24 to 72 hours for results.