China tests Ebola RNA samples for 1st time

FREETOWN -- Chinese experts have successfully tested the Ebola RNA samples for the first time at Sierra Leone-China Friendship Hospital, some 30 kilometers from the capital city Freetown.

The successful test was recorded on Wednesday, said Qian Jun, leader of a laboratory team from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The five samples were provided by South Africa Ebola Mobile Lab in Lakka of Sierra Leone, and the confirmatory testing results from the Chinese lab showed four positive and one negative. This is the first contact of Chinese experts with Ebola virus, according to Qian.

The Chinese team standardized the testing process to strengthen the bio-security and adopted four kits to test and re-test to ensure the accuracy of testing results.

They used the kits produced by the Military Veterinary Institute of the Chinese Academy of Military Medical Sciences, the Institute of Radiation Medicine of the Chinese Academy of Military Medical Sciences, the Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology of the Chinese Academy of Military Medical Sciences, and the Disease Virus Research Institute of the Chinese CDC.

"The testing results are exactly the same, which proved all these methods have good repeatability," said Qian. The team then shared the testing results with the South Africa lab and were confirmed by their counterpart.

"This is the Chinese lab's first attempt at the Ebola virus testing and got a perfect start with the results accuracy rate of 100 percent," Qian said the blind sample testing verified the testing capability of the Chinese lab and proved the kits and testing methods developed by China with good specificity and sensitivity.

"The Chinese lab team already attained the ability to test the Ebola RNA positive samples," said Gao Fu, the Deputy Director of the Chinese CDC, who was also working with the team in Freetown.