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. 2012 Jan;4(1):69-74.
doi: 10.4103/0974-777X.93765.

Infection control during filoviral hemorrhagic Fever outbreaks

Vanessa N Raabea  1 , Matthias Borcherta
Affiliations

Infection control during filoviral hemorrhagic Fever outbreaks

Vanessa N Raabea et al. J Glob Infect Dis. 2012 Jan.

Abstract

Breaking the human-to-human transmission cycle remains the cornerstone of infection control during filoviral (Ebola and Marburg) hemorrhagic fever outbreaks. This requires effective identification and isolation of cases, timely contact tracing and monitoring, proper usage of barrier personal protection gear by health workers, and safely conducted burials. Solely implementing these measures is insufficient for infection control; control efforts must be culturally sensitive and conducted in a transparent manner to promote the necessary trust between the community and infection control team in order to succeed. This article provides a review of the literature on infection control during filoviral hemorrhagic fever outbreaks focusing on outbreaks in a developing setting and lessons learned from previous outbreaks. The primary search database used to review the literature was PUBMED, the National Library of Medicine website.

Keywords: Ebola hemorrhagic fever; Infection control; Marburg virus disease; Viral hemorrhagic fever.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Health workers in protective gear disinfecting a body bag in a coffin. The appearance of control team members is often perceived as frightening. The figure on the right lacks eyewear and heavy-duty gloves in violation of protective gear guidelines
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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