Ebola risk factors
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]: Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Michael Maddaleni, B.S.;Guillermo Rodriguez Nava, M.D. [2]; Rim Halaby, M.D. [3]
Overview
The main risk factors for Ebola virus disease (EVD) are traveling to endemic areas, to be a health professional taking care of infected patients and researchers working with animal models of the Ebola virus disease.[1]
Risk Factors
Exposure Risk Levels
Levels of exposure risk are defined as follows:
- High risk exposures
- Low risk exposures
- No known exposure
High Risk Exposures
A high risk exposure includes any of the following:
- Percutaneous (e.g., needle stick) or mucous membrane exposure to blood or body fluids of EVD patient
- Direct skin contact with, or exposure to blood or body fluids of, an EVD patient without appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE)
- Processing blood or body fluids (except urine) of a confirmed EVD patient without appropriate PPE or standard biosafety precautions
- Direct contact with a dead body without appropriate PPE in a country where an EVD outbreak is occurring
Low Risk Exposures
A low risk exposure includes any of the following:
- Household contact with an EVD patient
- Other close contact with EVD patients in health care facilities or community settings. Close contact is defined as:
- Being within approximately 3 feet (1 meter) of an EVD patient or within the patient’s room or care area for a prolonged period of time (e.g., health care personnel, household members) while not wearing recommended personal protective equipment (i.e., standard, droplet, and contact precautions)
- Having direct brief contact (e.g., shaking hands) with an EVD patient while not wearing recommended personal protective equipment
- Brief interactions, such as walking by a person or moving through a hospital, do not constitute close contact
No Known Exposure
No known exposure is defined as having been in a country in which an EVD outbreak occurred within the past 21 days and having had no high or low risk exposures.
References
- ↑ "CDC Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever Information Packet" (PDF). April 2010.