Officials from Togo have submitted blood samples taken from suspected Ebola patients to the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR) in Ghana for testing.
It is the first of such cases from Ghana’s neighbour to be brought to the country’s leading biomedical research facility for testing since the outbreak of the deadly virus early this year.
Research Fellow in the Virology Department of NMIMR, Dr. Kofi Bonney disclosed this in an interaction with Joy FM’s Super Morning Show host, Kojo Yankson, which was broadcast Tuesday, September 30, 2014.
According to Dr Bonney, Noguchi has gained recognition as an “Ebola Centre” because of the professional manner it has conducted tests on samples from medical facilities in Ghana.
He said the facility which was set up in 1979 as a semi-autonomous institute of the University of Ghana, Legon, has the capacity to run tests on samples from other countries in the sub-region but upon instruction by government.
“So far we have received two samples from Togo that we’ve tested. We’ve not had any samples from elsewhere in Africa”.
“I don’t think it will be so much for us if we have to do testing of Ebola to help other countries…I don’t think it will be so much to do,” Dr. Bonney said.
To the relief of Ghanaians, Dr. Bonney said the test results on the samples from the country’s eastern neighbor came out negative.
He said, Noguchi has in recent times become synonymous to the Ebola disease because, it is the first port of call when there is a suspected case.
Source: ghnewsonline
