Clinical evaluation of QuickNavi(TM)-Ebola in the 2018 outbreak of Ebola virus disease in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

The recent large outbreaks of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in West Africa and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have highlighted the need for rapid diagnostic tests to control this disease. In this study, we clinically evaluated a previously developed immunochromatography-based kit, QuickNavi(TM)-Ebola. During the 2018 outbreaks in DRC, 928 blood samples from EVD-suspected cases were tested with QuickNavi(TM)-Ebola and the WHO-approved GeneXpert. The sensitivity and specificity of QuickNavi(TM)-Ebola, estimated by comparing it to GeneXpert-confirmed cases, were 85% (68/80) and 99.8% (846/848), respectively. These results indicate the practical reliability of QuickNavi(TM)-Ebola for point-of-care diagnosis of EVD.