CDC Promises New Ebola Screening Process; Rapid Diagnostic Test Still Sought

By Chuck Seegert, Ph.D.

The recent arrival of the first Ebola patient in the United States has led to calls for greater security at U.S. ports of entry. In the midst of the outcry, transportation officials have pledged to increase screening at airports and on ships.

The deadly Ebola outbreak sweeping through West Africa hit home recently when the first infected patient was diagnosed in a Dallas, TX hospital. Despite measures that were designed to prevent this, the patient slipped through and, according to the most recent report from Reuters, that patient succumbed to the disease.

Promises to unveil the new screening methods were given by U.S. health officials on Tuesday, according to Reuters.

 “We’re working very intensively on the screening process both in the places of origin and upon arrival,” said Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in the Reuters article. "We will absolutely look at every step that could tighten that process."

Currently, screening is largely focused in West Africa as departing travelers are checked for fever using handheld scanners, according to Reuters. The CDC trained workers in West Africa to use the equipment along with an exit questionnaire designed to reveal possible exposure to the virus. Some 36,000 people have boarded flights since then, and 77 travelers were prevented from boarding due to possible symptoms. Of those travelers, 74 ended up having fever, mostly related to malaria, and none had Ebola.

Details of the new screening procedure have not yet been revealed, but the absence of a rapid diagnostic device is keenly felt.    

"It's dangerous that we've got some folks in the heights of an election season stoking fears of Ebola and proposing expensive, unwieldy and unreasonable solutions such as trying to test and quarantine folks at airports," said U.S. Senator Chris Coons, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Africa subcommittee, noting that Congress will hold elections on Nov. 4. "There is no rapid test for Ebola. You can't test someone within an hour."

Because of the urgent need for an Ebola diagnostic, the FDA recently allowed an unapproved test to be used provisionally. The test, however, is not something that could be used on a large-scale basis to screen patients at an airport. Rapid Ebola test prototypes are under development that could provide results in as little as 15 minutes, once they are launched into the market.