Ebola Virus Disease in Health Care Workers--Guinea, 2014

Abstract

An outbreak of Ebola virus disease (Ebola) began in Guinea in December 2013 and has continued through September 2015. Health care workers (HCWs) in West Africa are at high risk for Ebola infection owing to lack of appropriate triage procedures, insufficient equipment, and inadequate infection control practices. To characterize recent epidemiology of Ebola infections among HCWs in Guinea, national Viral Hemorrhagic Fever (VHF) surveillance data were analyzed for HCW cases reported during January 1–December 31, 2014. During 2014, a total of 162 (7.9%) of 2,210 laboratory-confirmed or probable Ebola cases among Guinean adults aged ≥15 years occurred among HCWs, resulting in an incidence of Ebola infection among HCWs 42.2 times higher than among non-HCWs. The disproportionate burden of Ebola infection among HCWs taxes an already stressed health infrastructure, underscoring the need for increased understanding of transmission among HCWs and improved infection prevention and control measures to prevent Ebola infection among HCWs.