FDA OKs Emergency Ebola Test

The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new rapid Ebola test that can determine a case of the deadly virus within about three hours. Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche designed the LightMix Ebola Zaire rRT-PCR Test, which works by detecting signs of the virus on a genetic level by looking for a specific mRNA chunk. The FDA’s approval is for emergency use, so it is cleared for regions with especially bad outbreaks. Other tests have also received emergency approval to cope with the current epidemic, in which more than 7,500 people have died.