Biocontainment Unit team publishes protocols

UNMC’s Biocontainment Unit team is sharing more protocols for Ebola patient discharge, handling a patient’s body after death and environmental disinfection. The protocols are published in the March issue of the American Journal of Infection Control,
the official publication of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC).

To manage risks posed by Ebola, the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit (NBU) uses infection control protocols that guide all steps of patient release, removal of patient remains, waste disposal, and systematic environmental decontamination that involves waste removal, surface cleaning and multiple steps of disinfection.

“We acknowledge that our cleaning procedures go well beyond what is required to return the patient care area back to a safe environment,” said John Lowe, Ph.D., environmental, agricultural and occupational health, College of Public Health.

“However, given the morbidity and mortality of Ebola virus disease, and the misinformation regarding the spread of the Ebola virus, our additional cleaning measures represent a cost-effective way to ensure safety and address public perception,” he said.

The study’s authors are:

• Katelyn Jelden, Shawn Gibbs, Ph.D., and John Lowe, Ph.D., environmental, agricultural and occupational health;
• Philip Smith, M.D., Angela Hewlett, M.D., Michelle Schwedhelm, Elizabeth Beam and Kathleen Boulter, Biocontainment Unit;
• Peter Iwen, Ph.D., pathology and microbiology;
• Christopher Kratochvil, M.D., associate vice chancellor for research; and
• Kim Hayes and Nedra Marion, infection control and epidemiology, Nebraska Medicine.