title: Effectiveness of Personal Protective Equipment for Healthcare Workers Caring for Patients with Filovirus Disease: A Rapid Review.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A rapid review, guided by a protocol, was conducted to inform development of the World Health Organization's guideline on personal protective equipment in the context of the ongoing (2013-present) Western African filovirus disease outbreak, with a focus on health care workers directly caring for patients with Ebola or Marburg virus diseases.
  
  
  METHODS
  Electronic databases and grey literature sources were searched. Eligibility criteria initially included comparative studies on Ebola and Marburg virus diseases reported in English or French, but criteria were expanded to studies on other viral hemorrhagic fevers and non-comparative designs due to the paucity of studies. After title and abstract screening (two people to exclude), full-text reports of potentially relevant articles were assessed in duplicate. Fifty-seven percent of extraction information was verified. The Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation framework was used to inform the quality of evidence assessments.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Thirty non-comparative studies (8 related to Ebola virus disease) were located, and 27 provided data on viral transmission. Reporting of personal protective equipment components and infection prevention and control protocols was generally poor.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Insufficient evidence exists to draw conclusions regarding the comparative effectiveness of various types of personal protective equipment. Additional research is urgently needed to determine optimal PPE for health care workers caring for patients with filovirus.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Epidemiology Program, Centre for Practice-Changing Research, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Mona
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hersi
authors.affiliation: Clinical Epidemiology Program, Centre for Practice-Changing Research, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; TRIBE graduate program, University of Split School of Medicine, Split, Croatia.
authors.forename: Adrienne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stevens
authors.affiliation: Clinical Epidemiology Program, Centre for Practice-Changing Research, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Pauline
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Quach
authors.affiliation: Clinical Epidemiology Program, Centre for Practice-Changing Research, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Candyce
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hamel
authors.affiliation: Clinical Epidemiology Program, Centre for Practice-Changing Research, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; School of Epidemiology, Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Kednapa
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Thavorn
authors.affiliation: Clinical Epidemiology Program, Centre for Practice-Changing Research, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; TRIBE graduate program, University of Split School of Medicine, Split, Croatia.
authors.forename: Chantelle
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Garritty
authors.affiliation: Independent Consultant, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Becky
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Skidmore
authors.affiliation: World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Constanza
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vallenas
authors.affiliation: World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Susan L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Norris
authors.affiliation: Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland; Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Research, School of Public Health and Family Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Egger
authors.affiliation: World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Sergey
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Eremin
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Mauricio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ferri
authors.affiliation: World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Nahoko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shindo
authors.affiliation: Clinical Epidemiology Program, Centre for Practice-Changing Research, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; School of Epidemiology, Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Moher
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D006282:Health Personnel; D019142:Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D008379:Marburg Virus Disease / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D005791:Patient Care; D000067393:Personal Protective Equipment