US-based Corgenix Medical and Canadian firm Fio have partnered to integrate rapid testing and mobile data capture technology, in a bid to track Ebola outbreak in real-time in West Africa.
Under the deal, Fio’s Deki Reader is being adapted for use with the Corgenix ReEBOV Antigen Rapid Test for the Ebola virus, which obtained emergency use authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and was listed as eligible for procurement by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Fio chairman and CEO Dr Michael Greenberg said: "This collaboration makes testing more accessible to those at risk and data more readily available to those managing the outbreak, a combination that the Gates Foundation identified and mobilized."
The integrated technologies will allow to access the automated test results of the suspected Ebola patients in the most remote and poor settings.
These results will be transmitted to Fio’s data system, Fionet, helping to gather vital information that is currently missed or delayed.
In Sierra Leone, Corgenix researchers have already commenced using smartphones to transmit images of rapid Ebola test results to the Fionet data system, which allows governments and other organizations to track the disease in real time.
Fio’s Deki Reader, which received CE mark approval for use with rapid tests that detect malaria and dengue fever, is also being adapted for use with the Corgenix ReLASV Antigen Rapid Test for the Lassa virus.
In December 2014, Fio secured a Gates Foundation grant to adapt its Deki Reader to analyze rapid Ebola tests and transmit results to Fionet to be incorporated with case and contact management tools.
Corgenix also received another two grants, including one from the Gates Foundation and one from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation to advance the firm’s development of an Ebola rapid test kit.
Image: Corgenix and Fio are integrating rapid testing and mobile data capture technology to help track the Ebola outbreak in real time. Photo: courtesy of Fio Corporation.