External quality assessment study for ebolavirus PCR-diagnostic promotes international preparedness during the 2014 - 2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa

• Published in: PLoS neglected tropical diseases 2017-05, Vol.11 (5), p.e0005570-e0005570
• Main Authors: Ellerbrok, Heinz, Jacobsen, Sonja, Patel, Pranav, Rieger, Toni, Eickmann, Markus, Becker, Stephan, Günther, Stephan, Naidoo, Dhamari, Schrick, Livia, Keeren, Kathrin, Targosz, Angelina, Teichmann, Anette, Formenty, Pierre, Niedrig, Matthias
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acceptability; Africa, Western - epidemiology; Assaying; Biology and life sciences; Capacity; Countries; Datasets; Detection; Diagnosis; Diagnostic systems; Disease; Diseases; DNA; DNA-directed RNA polymerase; Ebola hemorrhagic fever; Ebola virus; Ebolavirus; Electric power distribution; Epidemics; Evaluation; Fever; Funding; Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola - diagnosis; Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola - epidemiology; Humans; Infections; Laboratories; Laboratories - standards; Medicine and Health Sciences; Nucleic acids; Nucleotide sequence; Optimization; Outbreaks; Panels; Pathogens; Patients; PCR; Polymerase chain reaction; Polymerase Chain Reaction - methods; Quality; Quality assessment; Quality Assurance, Health Care; Quality control; Reliability; Reliability analysis; Reproducibility of Results; Research and Analysis Methods; Reverse transcription; Ribonucleic acid; RNA; Samples; Transcription; Tropical diseases; Viral diseases; Virology; Viruses
• ISSN: 1935-2735; 1935-2727; 1935-2735
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0005570

During the recent Ebola outbreak in West Africa several international mobile laboratories were deployed to the mainly affected countries Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia to provide ebolavirus diagnostic capacity. Additionally, imported cases and small outbreaks in other countries required global preparedness for Ebola diagnostics. Detection of viral RNA by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction has proven effective for diagnosis of ebolavirus disease and several assays are available. However, reliability of these assays is largely unknown and requires serious evaluation. Therefore, a proficiency test panel of 11 samples was generated and distributed on a global scale. Panels were analyzed by 83 expert laboratories and 106 data sets were returned. From these 78 results were rated optimal and 3 acceptable, 25 indicated need for improvement. While performance of the laboratories deployed to West Africa was superior to the overall performance there was no significant difference between the different assays applied.