ebola

Ebola, how does it spread?

Gaétan Lanthier

top-2014-ebola-virus

The Ebola Virus

Ebola is a virus. There is currently no vaccine or treatment. It causes severe disease, causing serious symptoms including vomiting and bleeding. The mortality rate can reach 90%. Primary infection comes from a contact with an infected animal and it can spread quickly.

How can you get infected by Ebola?

By coming into contact with following bodily fluids such as blood, urine, feces and vomit. Of by one of the following means: by contact with a dead victim, by ingestion of infected animal meat or by having sexual intercourse with an infected person.

What are the symptoms of Ebola?

The symptoms of Ebola are fever, headache, nausea and fatigue. It may also include bleeding from nose, mouth or eyes, coughing, diarrhea or vomiting with the possible presence of blood.

How to prevent ebola transmission

The risk of transmission of the Ebola virus in Canada is very low. However, certain precautions must be taken. The Public Health Agency of Canada also recommends that travelers avoid all nonessential travel to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

There is a risk only if you have been in contact with sick people. In such case, if you experience symptoms, call 8-1-1 (Quebec) and inform them of your discomfort. You will be directed to the healthcare center care that can help you.

What to do to prevent the spread of Ebola virus

The Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux in collaboration with the Institut nationale de santé publique du Québec has issued recommendations in case of an outbreak. It is important that each healthcare center that can receive a potentially infectious patient put in place appropriate precautionary measures. Thus, it is important to have the required equipment for this type of care.

Robots to destroy Ebola?

Gaétan Lanthier
xenex-robots

Credit photo: Xenex website

Robots are soldiers in a war againt HAI’s

Two Canadian hospitals have recently acquired a machine enabling surface disinfection in health institutions.

The Juravinksi hospital in Hamilton has started a year trial of a robot that costs 95 000 $ that burns the bacteria with UV rays: the Xenex Robot System. The general hospital of Vancouver has also started a trial of a UV robot that is 1.65 meters tall, called the Tru-D Smart UVC, working with UV rays as well. The effectiveness of these machines relies on the properties of the UV rays, or rather on the xenon UV rays, to sterilize and kill microscopic contaminants.

Ebola outbreak

Recently, with the Ebola Outbreak, the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, where 42-year-old Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person to be diagnosed with Ebola in the US, was being treated, also uses such device. But was it enough? See this other blog post from my collegue: The Dallas case rises a question: Should protocols for infection control be revised?

What about your hospital?

The goal of these robots is not to replace the cleaning staff, nor the products employed for critical disinfections, but rather to complete their work, and to avoid that a single microscopic bacteria could take the life of a person whose immune system is weak.

Is your plan ready? Is your staff trained well enough? Do you have a stabilized chlorinated cleaner disinfectant in stock?

Do not miss our next post, which is going to explain how UV disinfection works!

More about Ebola Virus

There are a lot of ramblings about Ebola in 2014 on the web, you will find these articles interesting:

Ebola, How to disinfect surfaces

Ebola virus, Are we Ready?

Cleaning in Hospitals (part 2)

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source: http://tvanouvelles.ca/lcn/infos/lemonde/archives/2014/10/20141007-174935.html

The Dallas case rises a question: Should protocols for infection control be revised?

Rémi Charlebois

protocol-ebola

A nurse from the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, where a patient was treated for Ebola, contracted the disease. This is the first case of Ebola transmission in North America. Although the authorities are reassuring, the question arises in hospitals: Are protocols in place really effective?

The nurse in question, Ms. Nina Pham wore protective equipment as directed by the hospital. Indeed, she claims to have followed protocol at all times and she is unable to identify how she could have contracted the virus. It is assumed that methods of environmental control were in place so the room was disinfected daily with sodium hypochlorite as prescribed.

A breach of protocol?

The director of the CDC (Center for Disease Control), Dr. Thomas R. Frieden believes that treatment protocols were not followed to the letter “Clearly there was a breach in protocol. We have the ability to prevent the spread of Ebola by caring safely for patients.”

CDCs are investigating in order to identify how Ms. Pham may have acquired the infection. Protocols are of course being examined. They would be sufficient to protect healthcare workers from infection by the virus if followed properly. Nevertheless, removing the protective equipment is always pointed out as a critical step. In Europe, another investigation is under way to understand how a Spanish nurse found herself in the same situation.

No reported case in Quebec, yet

The Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux in collaboration with the Institut nationale de santé publique du Québec has issued recommendations in case of an outbreak. It is important that each healthcare center that can receive a potentially infectious patient put in place appropriate precautionary measures. Thus, it is important to have the required equipment for this type of care.

At Lalema, we can help you by providing all the necessary protective equipment and disinfectant ! For any special needs, please contact us.

Ebola, How to disinfect surfaces

Rémi Charlebois

ebola-disinfect-surface-ali-flex-rtu

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is slowly becoming an epidemic that is spreading beyond Africa. Although the risk of transmission is relatively low, it is the largest ever recorded outbreak of Ebola. WHO, CDC and other NGOs have declared a state of emergency and fight tirelessly to limit the outbreak.

Importance of hygiene when it comes to Ebola

The debate today is polarized on the ethical use of experimental drugs. However, few media state of the propagation modes and the importance of hygiene against this virus. Although transmission is being achieved mainly by direct contact between two people, contaminated objects and surfaces can present a risk that is hard to assessed. Thus, the CDC and WHO suggest that objects in direct contact with the patient must be decontaminated properly and that medical or objects contaminated with body fluids must be incinerated.

Stabilized Sodium Hypochlorite

All well and good, but what product can be used to disinfect appropriately? Ebola Virus Outbreak Guidelines written by members of the Ministry of Public Health of Gabon suggest the use of sodium hypochlorite.

We do not always know the microbial threats we face, but if in doubt use a disinfectant caliber is required.