Ebola Screening Test Begins Development by Manassas Company

Along with the Ebola crisis in the United States this year came a lot of misinformation, fear and even an Ebola nurse action figure.

Now, at the tail end of the crisis, a Manassas Company brings the possibility of a safer, easier method to test for Ebola.

Ceres Nanosciences Inc., has received a $430,000 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The money will be used to begin development of a test for Ebola using saliva instead of blood.

Though Ebola can be passed through any bodily fluid, including saliva, researchers at Ceres believe a saliva collection method will be safer than testing blood, which needs to be taken in larger quantities, according to a release.

The company will spend four months testing the ability of patented technology to be used for Ebola detection through saliva.

“Detection and confirmation of the Ebola virus is limited by issues inherent in collecting blood samples for testing. These include exposure risk, lack of adequately trained personnel, sample storage requirements, and, in some cases, cultural objections towards blood collection,” Ross Dunlap, CEO of Ceres, said in a press release.

Ceres is working with George Mason University and the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases on this project.

Also read:

Ebola in Your Town: What’s the Plan?

Ebola: How Afraid Should We Really Be of an Outbreak in America?

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