- Douglas Fink1, Ian Cropley1, Michael Jacobs1, Stephen Mepham1
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View Affiliations Hide AffiliationsAffiliations: 1 Department of Infection, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, London, United KingdomDouglas Finkdouglas.fink nhs.net
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Citation style for this article: Fink Douglas, Cropley Ian, Jacobs Michael, Mepham Stephen. Febrile illness in healthcare workers caring for Ebola virus disease patients in a high-resource setting. Euro Surveill. 2017;22(4):pii=30449. https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2017.22.4.30449 Received: 08 Feb 2016; Accepted: 21 Jul 2016
Febrile illness in healthcare workers caring for Ebola virus disease patients in a high-resource setting
Abstract
Ebola virus disease (EVD) patients treated in high-resource facilities are cared for by large numbers of healthcare staff. Monitoring these healthcare workers (HCWs) for any illness that may represent transmission of Ebola virus is important both for the individuals and to minimise the community risk. International policies for monitoring HCWs vary considerably and their effectiveness is unknown. Here we describe the United Kingdom (UK) experience of illness in HCWs who cared for three patients who acquired EVD in West Africa. Five of these 93 high-level isolation unit (HLIU) HCWs presented with fever within 21 days of working on the unit; one of these five presented outside of the UK. This article discusses different approaches to monitoring of HCW symptom reporting. The potential impact of these approaches on HLIU staff recruitment, including travel restrictions, is also considered. An international surveillance system enhancing collaboration between national public health authorities may assist HLIU HCW monitoring in case they travel.

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