CURRENT PROTECTIVE MEASURES in place against the spread of Ebola are largely pointless, and could even be counter-productive.
That’s the view expressed by three public health experts in a letter published in the medical journal The Lancet this week.
What’s wrong with being cautious?
“Spectacular clothing” which offers respiratory protection to health workers is unnecessary, because Ebola is not an airborne virus, argue Spanish doctors Jose Martin-Moreno, Gilberto Llinas, and Juan Martinex Hernandez.
The primary mode of transmission of Ebola virus is through contact with infected patients’ secretions (such as blood, vomit, or faeces)…
This transmission occurs via close family contact or in health-care settings… Ebola is rarely transmitted via an airborne route.
The doctors, based in Valencia and Madrid, accept that “excessive precautions” might be reassuring for healthcare professionals dealing with Ebola, but are simply unaffordable for the countries worst affected by the virus.
An ongoing epidemic in West Africa has killed more than 1,400 people in Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Nigeria.
Worse, such an approach suggests that the only defence is individual protective equipment, which is inaccessible to the general population.
Furthermore, the experts argue that for ordinary people, the sight of workers wearing elaborate and intimidating protective suits, for example, could cause a panicked exodus from affected communities – increasing the spread of infection.
What would work better?
The doctors suggest the use of gloves, waterproof aprons, goggles, masks and separate hospital rooms, rather than over-the-top measures like “pressurised suits with oxygens.”
They even suggest that health workers don’t really need goggles and masks to speak with patients, once they keep a distance of two metres.
Their conclusion?
In control of infections diseases, more is not necessarily better and, very often, the simplest answer is the best.
Scroll down to read the letter in full.
http://cdn.thejournal.ie/media/2014/08/s014067361461343x.pdf
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say