The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will now send response teams that include specialized nurse trainers to any hospital with an Ebola diagnosis.
In a press conference on Oct.14, CDC director Thomas Frieden said the response teams would consist of experts in infection control, nursing, laboratory science, management of Ebola units, infectious waste management, and personal protective equipment. Teams would deploy “within hours” of an Ebola diagnosis and assist with transfer of patients if necessary, Dr. Frieden said.
© CDC
Dr. Thomas Frieden
The announcement comes as concerns grow among health care workers that hospitals are neither prepared nor equipped to protect them from Ebola infection.
“We wish we had put a team like this on the ground the minute the [index] patient was diagnosed, but we will going forward,” Dr. Frieden said, referring to Thomas Eric Duncan, the first Ebola patient diagnosed in the United States, who died last week at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas. A nurse who treated Mr. Duncan, Nina Pham, became infected with Ebola and is now being treated at the same hospital. She is in stable condition.
Dr. Frieden said that 76 health care workers at Texas Health Presbyterian were now being actively monitored for symptoms of Ebola infection because of possible exposure to Mr. Duncan or his blood. This is in addition to 48 contacts of Mr. Duncan prior to his admission, and one contact of Ms. Pham’s, none of whom have shown evidence of infection.
Dr. Frieden acknowledged that the agency has not ruled out the possibility of transferring any newly diagnosed Ebola patients to one of four U.S. hospitals with special biocontainment units and Ebola expertise, such as Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. Expert nurses from Emory have recently arrived at Texas Health Presbyterian to perform Ebola-specific training.
The breach in infection control that led to Ms. Pham’s infection still has not been identified and may never be, Dr. Frieden said, but he highlighted the use of additional or excessive layers of protective gear and clothing as an area of concern. He also identified the proper use and removal of these as an intense focus of the CDC-led training efforts ongoing at Texas Health Presbyterian.