title: Aerial medical evacuation of health workers with suspected Ebola virus disease in Guinea Conakry-interest of a negative pressure isolation pod-a case series.
abstract: We report 4 cases of Health Workers (HW) suspected of having contracted Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), transported from the Alliance for International Medical Action (ALIMA) Ebola Treatment Centre (ETC) in N'Zerekore, Guinea to the Treatment Centre for Carers run by the medical corps of the French army in Conakry, the capital of Guinea, which was established on 17 January 2015 and closed on 7 July 2015. In total more than 500 HWs have died from EVD since the epidemic began. This mortality has had significant effects on the ability of local services to respond appropriately to the disaster. The HWs were transported by air in the "Human Stretcher Transit Isolator-Total Containment (Oxford) Limited" (HSTI-TCOL) negative pressure isolation pod. Medical evacuation of patients with suspected, potentially fatal, infectious diseases is feasible with the use of a light isolator for patients without critical dysfunctions.
authors.affiliation: Alliance for International Medical Action, Dakar, Senegal.|CHU de Bordeaux, University of Bordeaux, Talence, France.
authors.forename: Jean-Michel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Dindart
authors.affiliation: Alliance for International Medical Action, Dakar, Senegal.
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Peyrouset
authors.affiliation: Alliance for International Medical Action, Dakar, Senegal.
authors.forename: Romain
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Palich
authors.affiliation: Alliance for International Medical Action, Dakar, Senegal.
authors.forename: Abdoul
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bing
authors.affiliation: Alliance for International Medical Action, Dakar, Senegal.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kojan
authors.affiliation: Alliance for International Medical Action, Dakar, Senegal.
authors.forename: Solenne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Barbe
authors.affiliation: Alliance for International Medical Action, Dakar, Senegal.
authors.forename: Souley
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Harouna
authors.affiliation: Alliance for International Medical Action, Dakar, Senegal. nikki@alima-ngo.org.|University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia. nikki@alima-ngo.org.
authors.forename: Nikki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Blackwell
mesh_terms: D017732:Air Ambulances; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D016701:Guinea / Q000453:epidemiology; D006282:Health Personnel; D019142:Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000628:therapy / Q000635:transmission; D006801:Humans; D017758:Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional; D010356:Patient Isolation / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards
keywords: Air transit isolator; Ebola; Guinea; Haemorrhagic fever; Infection control; Transportation of patients