Russia is the first in the world to develop an effective test system for the diagnosis of Ebola

Rospotrebnadzor specialists were the first in the world to create a unique test system for detecting Ebola, which is already being used in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. The development has no analogues in Russia, and internationally it is one of the only systems with absolute diagnostic accuracy.

The virus has already mutated into a new, more contagious form, the Bundibugio strain. Japanese scientists have warned that Ebola is capable of spreading beyond Africa, with Belgium, France, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, India and Canada in the risk zone. There is no vaccine against the virus, and the only way to stop the spread is to identify those infected in a timely manner.

"We know that there will be more confirmed cases in the coming days. We need to increase the capacity of Ebola treatment centers," said Dr. Dieudonne Mwamba Kazadi, Director General of the DR Congo's National Institute of Public Health.

Evgeny Morozkin, head of the scientific group for the development of new methods for the diagnosis of natural focal diseases at the Central Research Institute of Epidemiology of Rospotrebnadzor, explained that the Russian test is based on real-time PCR.

"The uniqueness lies in the fact that this is, in fact, the first and only test in Russia, and one of the few in the world today that works with 100% sensitivity and specificity," he said.

Evgeny Cherkashin, head of the Center for Product Development and Innovation at the Central Research Institute of Epidemiology of Rospotrebnadzor, said that special reagents are being prepared in the reactor that make it possible to isolate and purify DNA and RNA from any virus, in particular from the Bundibugio virus. The system is able to detect the virus even in the environment.

Izvestia correspondent Anastasia Kharchenko noted that it is from this laboratory that the path of domestic development begins, which is then sent to the foci of infections thousands of kilometers away. According to her, production has already been set up in such a way that it can fully cover the needs of Africa, but if it is necessary to use tests in Russia, the pace and volume can be increased many times in a short time.

All the main components of the Russian tests are manufactured on domestic equipment. Seven thousand test systems have already been transferred to African countries, requests have also been received from the DPRK, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan.

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As The Guardian reported on June 6, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention claims that the Ebola virus may be on a "dangerous trajectory" and risks matching the record outbreak of 2014. On May 27, Reuters learned that the United Nations had allocated $60 million from an emergency fund to help quell the outbreak of the Ebola virus in the DRC.

Reuters reported on June 17 that the European Union will provide €493 million in financial assistance to combat the outbreak of fever in Central Africa. It was clarified that this amount includes the provision of medical care at the forefront of the outbreak response, humanitarian assistance in the Great Lakes region of Africa and in Uganda, research on vaccines and treatments for filoviruses, as well as long-term work to increase preparedness and improve health systems.