China's CDC develops Ebola virus reagent

The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday that it has successfully developed a reagent for the Ebola virus that may help prevent the spread of the deadly disease in West Africa.

The reagent, produced with Institut Pasteur, a French research center, is highly sensitive in detecting the virus, the center said in a statement.

Ebola has killed more than 2,600 people in West Africa as of Thursday, and more than 5,300 people in the region have been infected, said Li Dexin, head of the center's virus institute.

Li said a batch of the reagent was sent to Sierra Leone along with a team of 59 Chinese medical workers on Tuesday to help the country contain the virus.

The virus has thus far not spread to China, Li said.

There is no effective medicine to cure a patient with the Ebola virus, and no effective vaccine is available, said Li, who added that early testing of the virus is essential to the control and prevention of the virus.