Recommended Personal Ebola Protection Measures

By Lena Stephenson


While the risks of Ebola transmission are low, it is necessary for health workers and families around infected patients to take precautions. The known ways of contracting the disease include direct and physical contact with body fluids like urine, blood, semen, feces and vomit, among others. Ebola protection measures also caution against contact with fluids of a dead victim.

A person who displays signs such as body aches, diarrhea, high fever and joint pains should seek immediate medical assistance. Hemorrhaging should also be reported at the earliest opportunity. Immediate action includes isolation and specific professional treatment with the aim of increasing the rate of survival.

Other conditions that increase the risk of infection are broken skin and contact with mucus membranes. Indirect contact with blood and fluids from infected victims leads to transmission. Some of the materials that are likely to lead to indirect transmission include gloves, masks, bed linen and goggles, among other victim handling accessories. Male victims can transmit the disease to their female sexual partners through semen up to seven weeks after recovery.

Health organizations and institutions have released standard protective gear for handling affected patients and materials. The recommendations must be followed by health workers in these facilities and those supporting their work. The gears seek to provide adequate cover to all body parts and ensure a standard and safe operation procedure.

Beyond direct contact, other health risks workers in such areas should look out for include psychological distress, stigma, violence and the stain of long working hours. The protective gear issued is likely to cause excessive heat. Health workers are exposed to dehydration as well as ergonomic challenges from lifting bodies and loads at the facility.

Diseases that display similar symptoms include malaria, cholera, rickettsipsis and typhoid fever. Relapsing hepatitis, viral hemorrhagic fever and shingellosis may be confused with this disease. This calls for qualified medical assistance and attention whenever a person is suspected to have contracted this disease. The facility used must be well equipped and manned by qualified and specialized staff.

When care is provided at home or in ill-equipped facilities the risk grows. This means that home care givers, traditional healers and village midwives who come into contact with infected individuals. Other avenues of contracting the disease include burial rituals and rites that involve direct contact with the body or bodily fluids.

Travelers to areas where the disease has been reported are exposed to a lower risk considering transmission modes. Only direct or indirect contact can cause transmission. Contact with dead animals that succumbed to the disease is a sure way to contract it.

Workers in ports, airlines and those coming into contact with travelers should be cautious when dealing with returning passengers. The danger lies in exposure from a person who displays full blown signs. This contact may happen on the ground or in the air. Every traveler is required to report to the agency in case he or she experiences conditions similar to Ebola.

The best protective measure is knowledge of prevention and control measures. People at risk should understand transmission and spread patterns and conditions. Immediate medical attention should be sort whenever a person is suspected to be infected. Travelers returning from infested areas should be monitored for twenty one days.




About the Author:



Share on :

0 comments:

Post a Comment