Make diagnostic centres a priority for Ebola crisis : Nature News & Comment

Make diagnostic centres a priority for Ebola crisis : Nature News & Comment

Sarah Bones

Make diagnostic centres a priority for Ebola crisis

Bottlenecks in testing samples for Ebola leave patients stranded for days in isolation wards and raise fears of seeking treatment, says J. Daniel Kelly.

09 September 2014

I will never forget the first time I walked into an Ebola isolation ward at Connaught Hospital in Freetown, Sierra Leone. It was 20 August. Inside, eight people thought to have the disease were organized into three patient-care rooms. Patients in the first room appeared to be healthy, and we greeted each other.