Browsing by Subject "Ebola hemorrhagic fever"

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    Assessment of environmental contamination and environmental decontamination practices within an Ebola holding unit, Freetown, Sierra Leone
    (Public Library of Science, 2015) Youkee, Daniel; Brown, Colin S; Lilburn, Paul; Shetty, Nandini; Brooks, Tim; Simpson, Andrew; Bentley, Neil; Lado, Marta; Kamara, Thaim B; Walker, Naomi F; Johnson, Oliver
    Evidence to inform decontamination practices at Ebola holding units (EHUs) and treatment centres is lacking. We conducted an audit of decontamination procedures inside Connaught Hospital EHU in Freetown, Sierra Leone, by assessing environmental swab specimens for evidence of contamination with Ebola virus by RT-PCR. Swabs were collected following discharge of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) patients before and after routine decontamination. Prior to decontamination, Ebola virus RNA was detected within a limited area at all bedside sites tested, but not at any sites distant to the bedside. Following decontamination, few areas contained detectable Ebola virus RNA. In areas beneath the bed there was evidence of transfer of Ebola virus material during cleaning. Retraining of cleaning staff reduced evidence of environmental contamination after decontamination. Current decontamination procedures appear to be effective in eradicating persistence of viral RNA. This study supports the use of viral swabs to assess Ebola viral contamination within the clinical setting. We recommend that regular refresher training of cleaning staff and audit of environmental contamination become standard practice at all Ebola care facilities during EVD outbreaks.
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    Effectiveness of Personal Protective Equipment for Healthcare Workers Caring for Patients with Filovirus Disease: A Rapid Review
    (Public Library of Science, 2015) Hersi, Mona; Stevens, Adrienne; Quach, Pauline; Hamel, Candyce; Thavorn, Kednapa; Garritty, Chantelle; Skidmore, Becky; Vallenas, Constanza; Norris, Susan L; Egger, Matthias
    BACKGROUND: A rapid review, guided by a protocol, was conducted to inform development of the World Health Organization’s guideline on personal protective equipment in the context of the ongoing (2013-present) Western African filovirus disease outbreak, with a focus on health care workers directly caring for patients with Ebola or Marburg virus diseases. METHODS: Electronic databases and grey literature sources were searched. Eligibility criteria initially included comparative studies on Ebola and Marburg virus diseases reported in English or French, but criteria were expanded to studies on other viral hemorrhagic fevers and non-comparative designs due to the paucity of studies. After title and abstract screening (two people to exclude), full-text reports of potentially relevant articles were assessed in duplicate. Fifty-seven percent of extraction information was verified. The Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation framework was used to inform the quality of evidence assessments. RESULTS: Thirty non-comparative studies (8 related to Ebola virus disease) were located, and 27 provided data on viral transmission. Reporting of personal protective equipment components and infection prevention and control protocols was generally poor. CONCLUSIONS: Insufficient evidence exists to draw conclusions regarding the comparative effectiveness of various types of personal protective equipment. Additional research is urgently needed to determine optimal PPE for health care workers caring for patients with filovirus.
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    The individualised versus the public health approach to treating Ebola
    (Public Library of Science, 2015) Boyles, Tom H
    The mortality rate for patients with Ebola virus disease (EVD) in West Africa is approximately 65% [1]. There are no published figures for high-resource settings, but media sources and individual case reports suggest it is much lower and approaches 0% for those who receive this level of care from the beginning of their illness. In their article "Ebola Viral Disease: Experience and Decision Making for the First Cases outside of Africa," David Stephens and colleagues give insight into the care that can be provided when available resources are not the limiting factor [2]. They describe the decision to open the Serious Communicable Diseases Unit (SCDU) of Emory University Hospital (EUH) when two United States patients contracted EVD while working in West Africa. Using a large specialist team, they provided high-quality care in a safe working environment and disseminated their knowledge and experience widely. In particular, they were able to respond to the huge increase in requests from health care facilities in the US for help in excluding the diagnosis of EVD. Caring for patients using an individualised approach under ideal circumstances contrasts with, but can also inform, the public health approach to care under resource-limited conditions in West Africa. The models of care employed in each environment show some similarities and also have a number of key differences.