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Ebola Outbreak Response; Experience and Development of Screening Tools for Viral Haemorrhagic Fever (VHF) in a HIV Center of Excellence Near to VHF Epicentres
INTRODUCTION: There have been 3 outbreaks of viral hemorrhagic fever (VHF) in Uganda in the last 2 years. VHF often starts with non-specific symptoms prior to the onset of haemorrhagic signs. HIV clinics in VHF outbreak countries such as Uganda see large numbers of patients with HIV 1/2 infection pr...
Autores principales: | , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2014
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4090118/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25007269 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0100333 |
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author | Parkes-Ratanshi, Rosalind Elbireer, Ali Mbambu, Betty Mayanja, Faridah Coutinho, Alex Merry, Concepta |
author_facet | Parkes-Ratanshi, Rosalind Elbireer, Ali Mbambu, Betty Mayanja, Faridah Coutinho, Alex Merry, Concepta |
author_sort | Parkes-Ratanshi, Rosalind |
collection | PubMed |
description | INTRODUCTION: There have been 3 outbreaks of viral hemorrhagic fever (VHF) in Uganda in the last 2 years. VHF often starts with non-specific symptoms prior to the onset of haemorrhagic signs. HIV clinics in VHF outbreak countries such as Uganda see large numbers of patients with HIV 1/2 infection presenting with non-specific symptoms every day. Whilst there are good screening tools for general health care facilities expecting VHF suspects, we were unable to find tools for use in HIV or other non-acute clinics. METHODS: We designed tools to help with communication to staff, infection control and screening of HIV patients with non-specific symptoms in a large HIV clinic during the outbreaks in Uganda. We describe our experiences in using these tools in 2 Ebola Virus Disease outbreaks in Uganda. RESULTS: During the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreaks, enhanced infection control and communication procedures were implemented within 24 hours of the WHO/Ministry of Health announcement of the outbreaks. During course of these outbreaks the clinic saw 12,544 patients with HIV 1/2 infection, of whom 3,713 attended without an appointment, suggesting new symptoms. Of these 4 were considered at risk of EVD and seen with full infection procedures; 3 were sent home after further investigation. One patient was referred to the National Referral Hospital VHF unit, but discharged on the same day. One additional VHF suspect was identified outside of a VHF outbreak; he was transferred to the National Referral Hospital and placed in isolation within 2 hours of arriving at the HIV clinic. DISCUSSION: Use of simple screening tools can be helpful in managing large numbers of symptomatic patients attending for routine and non-routine medical care (including HIV care) within a country experiencing a VHF outbreak, and can raise medical staff awareness of VHF outside of the epidemics. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-4090118 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2014 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-40901182014-07-14 Ebola Outbreak Response; Experience and Development of Screening Tools for Viral Haemorrhagic Fever (VHF) in a HIV Center of Excellence Near to VHF Epicentres Parkes-Ratanshi, Rosalind Elbireer, Ali Mbambu, Betty Mayanja, Faridah Coutinho, Alex Merry, Concepta PLoS One Research Article INTRODUCTION: There have been 3 outbreaks of viral hemorrhagic fever (VHF) in Uganda in the last 2 years. VHF often starts with non-specific symptoms prior to the onset of haemorrhagic signs. HIV clinics in VHF outbreak countries such as Uganda see large numbers of patients with HIV 1/2 infection presenting with non-specific symptoms every day. Whilst there are good screening tools for general health care facilities expecting VHF suspects, we were unable to find tools for use in HIV or other non-acute clinics. METHODS: We designed tools to help with communication to staff, infection control and screening of HIV patients with non-specific symptoms in a large HIV clinic during the outbreaks in Uganda. We describe our experiences in using these tools in 2 Ebola Virus Disease outbreaks in Uganda. RESULTS: During the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreaks, enhanced infection control and communication procedures were implemented within 24 hours of the WHO/Ministry of Health announcement of the outbreaks. During course of these outbreaks the clinic saw 12,544 patients with HIV 1/2 infection, of whom 3,713 attended without an appointment, suggesting new symptoms. Of these 4 were considered at risk of EVD and seen with full infection procedures; 3 were sent home after further investigation. One patient was referred to the National Referral Hospital VHF unit, but discharged on the same day. One additional VHF suspect was identified outside of a VHF outbreak; he was transferred to the National Referral Hospital and placed in isolation within 2 hours of arriving at the HIV clinic. DISCUSSION: Use of simple screening tools can be helpful in managing large numbers of symptomatic patients attending for routine and non-routine medical care (including HIV care) within a country experiencing a VHF outbreak, and can raise medical staff awareness of VHF outside of the epidemics. Public Library of Science 2014-07-09 /pmc/articles/PMC4090118/ /pubmed/25007269 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0100333 Text en © 2014 Parkes-Ratanshi et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Parkes-Ratanshi, Rosalind Elbireer, Ali Mbambu, Betty Mayanja, Faridah Coutinho, Alex Merry, Concepta Ebola Outbreak Response; Experience and Development of Screening Tools for Viral Haemorrhagic Fever (VHF) in a HIV Center of Excellence Near to VHF Epicentres |
title | Ebola Outbreak Response; Experience and Development of Screening Tools for Viral Haemorrhagic Fever (VHF) in a HIV Center of Excellence Near to VHF Epicentres |
title_full | Ebola Outbreak Response; Experience and Development of Screening Tools for Viral Haemorrhagic Fever (VHF) in a HIV Center of Excellence Near to VHF Epicentres |
title_fullStr | Ebola Outbreak Response; Experience and Development of Screening Tools for Viral Haemorrhagic Fever (VHF) in a HIV Center of Excellence Near to VHF Epicentres |
title_full_unstemmed | Ebola Outbreak Response; Experience and Development of Screening Tools for Viral Haemorrhagic Fever (VHF) in a HIV Center of Excellence Near to VHF Epicentres |
title_short | Ebola Outbreak Response; Experience and Development of Screening Tools for Viral Haemorrhagic Fever (VHF) in a HIV Center of Excellence Near to VHF Epicentres |
title_sort | ebola outbreak response; experience and development of screening tools for viral haemorrhagic fever (vhf) in a hiv center of excellence near to vhf epicentres |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4090118/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25007269 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0100333 |
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