Sierra Leone study: Corgenix Ebola rapid test accuracy rates top 92 percent

Broomfield-based Corgenix Medical Corp.’s rapid test for Ebola turned in accuracy rates of more than 92 percent in a recent study published this week in The Lancet, a medical journal in the United Kingdom.

The results help point toward the local company’s test as a useful tool in the battle to contain Ebola outbreaks in Africa.

In the study, Corgenix’s ReEBOV Antigen Rapid Test kit, which takes a fingerstick blood sample, was administered to 106 patients suspected of having Ebola at clinics in Sierra Leone. Of the 28 patients who tested positive  for Ebola via lab testing, the Corgenix test identified all 28 as having Ebola. Of the 77 patients with negative clinical tests, the Corgenix test confirmed the negative results in 71 of those patients for a 92.2 percent accuracy rate.

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Additionally, the study looked at 284 blood specimens held at a reference laboratory. In that sample, all 45 samples that had tested positive by clinical methods also tested positive with the Corgenix test. Of the 232 samples that were negative, the rapid test was again 92.2 percent accurate, confirming negative results in 214.

The development of a rapid field test is important in containment of the disease. Currently, diagnosis of Ebola requires that blood samples be transported to biocontainment laboratories, slowing down results and the ability to separate patients who test positive from the rest of the population quickly. A rapid field test would remedy that problem by giving results in minutes.

Corgenix, which employs about 50 people in Broomfield, was acquired by Germany-based Orgentec Diagnostika in March.