Background
Travellers returning from Guinea and Sierra Leone (Liberia removed from risk list on 09 may 2015):
- Fever >38°C within 21 days of their return assess as below
Ebola
- 55% fatality rate
- Person to person spread (esp. health care workers) or those with close contact wit patient
- Virus spread through direct contact with blood or body fluids or through contact with objects that have been contaminated by these body fluids
Symptoms
- Incubation period 2 to 21 days (most commonly 8-10 days)
- Early : sudden fever, chills, and myalgia
- Day 5: Rash
- Then vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal / chest pain and sore throat - progressing to jaundice, confusion and DIC with multi organ failure
Advice for GP/community
If a GP calls to report they have a suspected ebola case, please do NOT accept the patient, but advise the GP to contact their local public health contact as per the national Pre-Hospital and Risk Assessment in ALL medical settings. (Phone numbers right).
Public Health Contact Details
- HSE E: 01 635 2145, 021 420 9848
- HSE M: 057 935 9891, 057 935 8165/6
- HSE MW: 061 483 338, 087 669 9114
- HSE NW: 071 985 2900, 087 953 7807
- HSE SE: 056 778 4142, 1890 499 199
- HSE S: 021 492 7601, 021 4209848
- HSE W: 091 775 200, 094 906 3000
Advice (incl. AP calls)
If patient has both criteria
- Clinical symptoms [fever plus headache or abdo pain or chest pain or diarrhoea or haemorrhage] and
- Recent travel to risk areas)
Procedure:
- Alert receiving health care facility
- To nearest emergency department resusc. room if required (infection control precautions)
- Those not requiring resusc. should be transported (infection control precautions) to the nearest receiving hospital (ED or AMU) for medical assessment
- Please do NOT ask the crew or ambulance control to contact the national isolation unit (this should be a doctor to doctor referral once a case is confirmed or highly probable after assessment in the initial hospital)
Clinical assessment
Please use the sheet below:
Links
HPSC
- HSPC: http://www.hpsc.ie/ebola information
- HSPC: Procedure for referral (from public health) to an emergency department
- HPSC: Ebola Virus, Travel Disease information
- HPSC: News Updates
- HSPC: - Pre-hospital (paramedical/airport) procedure and assessment
- HPSC: Acute medical setting assessment of a person with fever recently returned from an endemic area in the last 3 weeks
- HSPC - VHF Assessment in acute hospital setting (August 2014)
Forms
- Possible Ebola (VHF) - Triage / assessment form
- Possible Ebola (VHF)- Clinical Assessment Form