Govt seeks WHO support for early detection

Shamsul Huda | Published: August 12, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00

The government has sought World Health Organisation (WHO) support in getting Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) testing regent, a chemical to test DNA and RNA, for early detection of the dreaded Ebola virus in anyone's body.
Official sources said the process of obtaining reagent from the WHO is underway, to deal with the exigency of the scourge that struck Africa.
Until the chemicals are available to the Institute of Epidemiology, Diseases Control and Research (IEDCR), the suspected samples would be sent to the United States, they said.
Prof Nazrul Islam, former Vice-chancellor (VC) of BSMMU, said drugs or vaccines are yet to be evolved for cure but early detection may save other lives from the fatal Ebola fever.
He said currently there is no complete testing equipment in the country so the government should outsource them immediately as precautionary measure for detection.
Dr Mushtaq Hossain, Principal Scientific Officer at the IEDCR, said 'Primer' is a specialised reagent for testing PCR in detecting Ebola virus. It is currently not available in Bangladesh.
"As safety measure of detecting DNA and RNA on suspicion of affected people we have sought WHO help in getting the Primer as soon as possible," he said.
The official process is progressing and, hopefully, the reagent would be in hand within few weeks.
The IEDCR principal scientific officer observed that as the virus is highly pathogenic, so, for its proper detection, testing chemicals must be outsourced immediately from either WHO or other sources.
He made it clear that primer availability does not mean drug or vaccines. This is simply a specialised reagent for detecting the virus. In case of emergency and non-availability of the primer in Bangladesh, the IEDCR has already arranged facilities for PCR tests in the USA.
The former BSMMU VC said if someone is attacked by the virus, they must be strictly isolated (inhuman in necessity).
As there are no drugs or vaccines for cure, he noted, prevention and diagnosis are the only way to save people by detecting the affected people earlier with arrangements of all testing materials and chemicals.
Professor Islam, also former chairman of the Department of Virology, said if someone suffered from fever within three days of the virus attack, inevitably he would die. But if the fever comes two to three weeks later, there is chance for survival.