VHFMoDRAD

VHFMoDRAD has made progress in understanding how different antibodies can be useful for diagnosing and detecting Rift Valley fever (RVF) virus in animal and insect tissues. The findings bring us one step closer to the development of effective diagnostic tools.###

There is a pressing need for diagnostic tests to detect viral haemorrhagic fevers including RVF, Ebola, Marburg and yellow and dengue fevers These diseases have many symptoms in common, a fact that makes it very hard to make a rapid diagnosis, something essential in an outbreak situation.

VHFMoDRAD carried out a study where they looked at how different antibodies can be useful for diagnosis and detection of RVF virus in tissues from animals or mosquitoes. The authors used several different antibodies, and found that antibodies against nucleoproteins can be a good tools to find infected cells in sheep and mice and antibodies against glycoproteins can be used to find infected tissues in insects. The findings are published in the journal Scientific Reports.

The aim of VHFMoDRAD is to develop rapid point-of-care (POC) diagnostic tools capable of identifying a number of viral haemorrhagic fevers. Ultimately, VHFMoDRAD will contribute to better preparedness for outbreaks of viral haemorrhagic fevers, and to capacity building in Africa.

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