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Zero Health Worker Infection: Experiences From the China Ebola Treatment Unit During the Ebola Epidemic in Liberia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2016

Lei Liu ,
Huahua Yin  and
Ding Liu
Lei Liu
Affiliation:
Department of Nursing, Daping Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, People’s Republic of China
Huahua Yin*
Affiliation:
Department of Nursing, Daping Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, People’s Republic of China
Ding Liu
Affiliation:
Department of Infection Control, Daping Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, People’s Republic of China.
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to Huahua Yin, Department of Nursing, Daping Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, People’s Republic of China (e-mail: hhylora@gmail.com).
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Abstract

In November 2014, a total of 164 health care workers were dispatched by the Chinese government as the first medical assistance team to Liberia. The tasks of this team were to establish a China Ebola treatment unit (ETU), to commence the initial admission and treatment of suspected and confirmed Ebola patients, and to provide public health and infection control training for relevant local personnel. Overall, during the 2-month stay of this first medical assistance team in Liberia, 112 Ebola-suspected patients presented to the ETU, 65 patients were admitted, including 5 confirmed cases, and 3 confirmed cases were cured. Furthermore, 1520 local people were trained, including health care workers, military health care workers, staff members employed by the ETU, and community residents. Most importantly, as the first Chinese medical assistance team deployed to Liberia fighting the Ebola virus on the frontline, not a single member of this team or the hired local staff were infected by Ebola virus. This highly successful outcome was due to the meticulous infection control initiatives developed by the team, thereby making a significant contribution to China’s ETU “zero infection” of health workers in Liberia. The major infection control initiatives conducted in the China ETU that contributed to achieving “zero infection” of all health workers in the ETU are introduced in this report. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2017;11:262–266)

Keywords

infection controldisaster medicinedisease outbreaksfield hospitalspublic health
Type
Report from the Field
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 11 , Issue 2 , April 2017 , pp. 262 - 266
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2016 

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