Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-8mjnm Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T08:19:50.512Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A Hospital Contingency Plan for Exotic Communicable Diseases

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Beverly A. Campbell*
Affiliation:
Bureau of Infection Control, Laboratory Centre for Disease Control, Health Protection Branch, Department of National Health & Welfare, and theOttawa Civic Hospital, Ottawa, Canada
M. Dorothy Pequegnat
Affiliation:
Bureau of Infection Control, Laboratory Centre for Disease Control, Health Protection Branch, Department of National Health & Welfare, and theOttawa Civic Hospital, Ottawa, Canada
Alastair J. Clayton
Affiliation:
Bureau of Infection Control, Laboratory Centre for Disease Control, Health Protection Branch, Department of National Health & Welfare, and theOttawa Civic Hospital, Ottawa, Canada
*
Bureau of Infection Control, Laboratory Centre for Disease Control, Ottawa, Ontario K1A OL2, Canada

Abstract

The exotic communicable diseases are highly virulent, transmissible, conditions which occur most often in tropical areas. Since the late 1960s, there have been occasions when these diseases have been exported to the US and Canada. Advance planning will facilitate the care of patients infected with these diseases in health care facilities. Hospitals should develop a contingency plan which addresses the management of patients that present themselves to the emergency department as well as patients diagnosed after admission. The plan should address such topics as the isolation room, protective clothing, disinfection of the environment and equipment as well as the management of waste and handling of corpses. A well thought out plan will prevent subsequent transmission of infection to attending personnel, other patients and the surrounding community.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 1984

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Health & Welfare Canada, 1978. Exotic dangerous communicable diseases (Principles and practice of management). The Canadian Contingency Plan. Ottawa, 1978.Google Scholar
2.Centers for Disease Control: Recommendations for initial management of suspected or confirmed cases of Lassa fever. MMWR 1980; 28(Suppl):35125.Google Scholar
3.Clayton, AJ, Best, HR: Controlling the exotic diseases: 1. Isolation facilities. Can Med Assoc J 1980;123:863871.Google Scholar
4.Simpson, DIH: Marburg and Ebola virus infections: A guide to their diagnosis, management and control. Offset Publication No. 36, 1977; Geneva, WHO.Google Scholar
5.Leifer, E, Gocke, DJ, Bourne, H: Lassa fever, a new virus disease of man from West Africa III. Am J Trop Med Hyg 1970;19:677679.Google Scholar
6.Bowen, GS, Tomori, O, Wuiff, H, et al: Lassa fever in Onitsha, East Central State, Nigeria, 1974. Bull WHO 1975;52:599604.Google Scholar
7.Monath, TP, Mertens, PE, Patton, R, et al: A hospital epidemic of Lassa fever in Zorzor, Liberia, March-April 1972. Am J Trop Med Hyg 1973;22:773779.Google Scholar
8.Fraser, DW, Campbell, CC, Monath, TR, et al: Lassa fever in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone 1970-1972. Epidemiological studies. Am J Trop Med Hyg 1974;23:11311139.Google Scholar
9.Westwood, JCN: The Hazard from Dangerous Exotic Diseases. London, MacMillan Press, 1980.Google Scholar
10.Public Health Laboratory Service. Unexpected diagnosis of Lassa fever. Communicable Disease Report 1981;9:4.Google Scholar
11.Public Health Laboratory Service Communicable Disease Centre: Communicable Diseases: Lassa fever. Br Med J 1983;287:48.Google Scholar
12.Martini, GA: Marburg agent disease. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg 1969;63:295302.Google Scholar
13.Pattyn, SR (ed): Ebola virus hemorrhagic fever. Proceedings of the international colloquium on Ebola virus infection and other hemorrhagic fevers, Antwerp, 1977. Amsterdam; New York; Elsevier North-Holland, 1978.Google Scholar
14.Emond, RT, Evans, B, Bowen, ET, et al: A case of Ebola virus infection. Br Med J 1977;2:541544.Google Scholar
15.Centers for Disease Control. Ebola hemorrhagic fever—Southern Sudan. MMWR 1979;28:47.Google Scholar
16.Clayton, AJ: Lassa fever, Marburg and Ebola virus diseases and other exotic diseases: Is there a risk to Canada? Can Med Assoc J 1979;120:146155.Google Scholar
17.Benenson, AS (ed): Control of Communicable Disease in Man. ed 13Washington, DC, American Public Health Association, p 182.Google Scholar
18.Department of Health and Social Security, Scottish Home and Health Department, Department of Health and Social Services, Northern Ireland, Welsh Office: Code of Practice for the Prevention of Infection in Clinical Laboratories and Post Mortem Rooms, 1978.Google Scholar
19.US Department of Health, Education & Welfare, Public Health Service, National Institutes of Health. Laboratory Safety Monograph, 1979.Google Scholar