During two months, starting from mid-August 2014, a team from the IBEB assured the operational development of a rapid and inexpensive test for “bedside” use without laboratory equipment or an electricity source. Researchers at Marcoule have actually worked for several years within the framework of the NRBC-E1 interministerial program on the “Zaire” Ebola strain, very close2 to the strain currently affecting West Africa. Indeed, they had already developed specific monoclonal antibodies.
Identical in principle to home pregnancy tests, this immunochromatographic test includes an antibody attached to a solid support (a cardboard strip) that is responsible for capturing the virus present in a sample of blood, plasma or urine deposited on the strip. A solution containing a second antibody labeled with colloidal gold (red) is then applied. If the virus has been immobilized on the support, the labeled antibody will then bind to it. The presence of a red band, detectable by the naked eye, then reveals the presence of the virus in the biological sample.
Selected for their high sensitivity, these monoclonal antibodies have been validated for their reaction to the real virus i.e. the current epidemic strain, in collaboration with the Laboratoire Jean Mérieux, a high-security microbiological laboratory in Lyon. With its P4 containment level, this laboratory is the only institution in France authorized to handle such dangerous pathogens.
The most recent assessments and the impending field test qualification will be immediately followed by industrialization and production by the French company VEDALAB3 (Alençon, Orne), the European leader in rapid tests.
1 Nuclear, Radiological, Biological, Chemical and Explosive. Launched by the Secretary General for Defense and National Security (SGDSN), the program is led by the CEA under the control of a CEA/DGA executive cell.
2 The strains share 98% homology.
3 http://www.vedalab.com/