Operational evaluation of rapid diagnostic testing for Ebola Virus Disease in Guinean laboratories.

Background: Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs) for Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) at the point of care have the potential to increase access and acceptability of EVD testing and the speed of patient isolation and secure burials for suspect cases. A pilot program for EVD RDTs in high risk areas of Guinea was introduced in October 2015. This paper presents concordance data between EVD RDTs and PCR testing in the field as well as an assessment of the acceptability, feasibility, and quality assurance of the RDT program.

Assessing and mitigating the risks for polio outbreaks in polio-free countries - Africa, 2013-2014.

Since 1988, when the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) began, the annual number of polio cases has decreased by >99%. Only three countries remain that have never interrupted wild poliovirus (WPV) transmission: Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan. Since 2001, outbreaks have occurred in 31 formerly polio-free counties in Africa, with outbreaks in 25 countries caused by WPV originating in Nigeria (2-4).

Surveillance systems to track progress toward global polio eradication - worldwide, 2012-2013.

In 2012, the World Health Assembly of the World Health Organization (WHO) declared completion of polio eradication a programmatic emergency. Polio cases are detected through surveillance of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) cases and subsequent testing of stool specimens for polioviruses (PVs) at WHO-accredited laboratories within the Global Polio Laboratory Network (GPLN). AFP surveillance is supplemented by environmental surveillance, testing sewage samples from selected sites for PVs.