GREENSBORO, N.C. -- A Greensboro company, Matthews Specialty Vehicles, teamed up with Integrum Scientific to build mobile clinics to send to Africa for infectious disease help.

  • A professor of outbreak medicine involved with the project said it is all about rapid response.
  • The clinics would also be used as labs.
  • The trucks would be equipped with four-wheel drive to reach the areas where terrain makes traveling difficult. 

A professor of outbreak medicine involved with the project said it is all about rapid response.

"Outbreaks happen quite quickly. You really can see between onset in six weeks at peak in outbreak activity which means that many lives are lost," Callum Semple said. 

Dr. Julius Lutwama with the Uganda Virus Research Institute said the clinics would also be used as labs. He said he has seen first hand how necessary that is. 

"The first time we had an Eboloa outbreak it took us three weeks before we were able to diagnose the infection just because we didn't have a laboratory," Lutwama said. 

Matthews Specialty said the trucks would be equipped with four-wheel drive to reach the areas where terrain makes traveling difficult. 

"These outbreaks happen in remote, rural areas which are difficult to get to. Often you don't have electricity or the facility. What Matthews can do is provide us with these specialist trucks so we can bring the kit right to the epicenter of an outbreak," Semple said. 

The goal is to deploy the first unit sometime in the next six months.