title: Mobile diagnostics in outbreak response, not only for Ebola: a blueprint for a modular and robust field laboratory.
abstract: We established a modular, rapidly deployable laboratory system that provides diagnostic support in resource-limited, remote areas. Developed as a quick response asset to unusual outbreaks of infectious diseases worldwide, several of these laboratories have been used as part of the World Health Organization response to the Ebola virus outbreaks by teams of the 'European Mobile Lab' project in West Africa since March 2014. Within three days from deployment, the first European mobile laboratory became operational at the Ebola Treatment Unit (ETU) in Guéckédou, southern Guinea. Deployment in close proximity to the ETU decreased the turnaround time to an average of 4 h instead of several days in many cases. Between March 2014 and May 2015, more than 5,800 samples were tested in this field laboratory. Further EMLab units were deployed to Nigeria, Liberia and Sierra Leone in the following months of the Ebola outbreak. The technical concept of the EMLab units served as a blueprint for other mobile Ebola laboratories which have been set up in Mali, Côte d'Ivoire, Sierra Leone and other countries in West Africa. Here, we describe design, capabilities and utility of this deployable laboratory system for use in response to disease outbreaks, epidemiological surveillance and patient management.
authors.affiliation: Bundeswehr Institute of Microbiology, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Roman
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wölfel
authors.forename: Kilian
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Stoecker
authors.forename: Erna
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fleischmann
authors.forename: Brigitte
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gramsamer
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wagner
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Molkenthin
authors.forename: Antonino
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Di Caro
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Günther
authors.forename: Sofi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ibrahim
authors.forename: Gelimer H
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Genzel
authors.forename: Amanda J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Ozin-Hofsäss
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Formenty
authors.forename: Lothar
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zöller
mesh_terms: D064790:Clinical Laboratory Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D029043:Ebolavirus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D058872:Epidemics / Q000517:prevention & control; D019142:Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola; D006801:Humans; D008952:Mobile Health Units / Q000458:organization & administration*; D014944:World Health Organization
keywords: Ebola fever; Europe; Guinea; Liberia; Nigeria; Sierra Leone; laboratory; outbreaks; viral haemorrhagic fever