Ebola virus disease (EVD) caused by Ebola viruses (EBOV) is an acute hemorrhagic infectious disease. Because of its high infectivity and high mortality rate(up to 90%), EBOV is listed as one of the most dangerous viruses to human by World Health Organization. Although US FDA gave it emergency clearance to use an experimental drug TKM-Ebola, there is no Ebola vaccine available yet. Rapid, accurate, simple and reliable laboratory diagnostic tests are required in suspected cases for timely treatment, epidemiological investigation and controlling the spread of the EVD. This review summarizes the principles, applications and progress of the laboratory diagnosis of EVD, covering virus isolation by cell culture, electron microscopy, reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay, antigen detection, antibody-capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and serum neutralization test.

Ebola virus disease  /  Ebola virus  /  laboratory diagnosis