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12/22/2024 05:28:58 pm

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CDC Overhauls Ebola Guidelines in Hopes to Reduce Infection

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on revising Ebola guidelines

(Photo : Reuters/Kevin Lamarque) Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Tom Frieden listens via video conference as U.S. President Barack Obama holds a meeting with cabinet agencies coordinating the government's Ebola response in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington October 15, 2014.

The United States federal guidelines are too lenient in containing Ebola cases in the country which posed more risks of contamination, experts from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said. 

The government on Tuesday acknowledged loopholes in procedures and training but added that CDC is revamping guidelines for all American hospitals.  A new set of guidelines is patterned from Doctors Without Borders, a medical humanitarian organization with expertise in treating Ebola in Africa.

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Under the new CDC directives, all personnel assigned to Ebola are mandated to have full coverage of head, torso, and legs.  Materials used are synthetic to prevent blood or other forms of secretion to percolate.  Nurses must have two-layer gloves while janitors have three sets, each are either strapped or taped to lab gowns and non-permeable.

When removing protective gears, all workers must disinfect their hands with chlorine solution and chlorine mist only with the supervision of a fellow health aide to prevent lapses.  Blood sampling is done only when utmost necessary.

Sean G. Kaufman, Director of Training Programs at Emory University, said that existing federal guidelines are "irresponsible and deadly wrong."  Kaufman oversaw treatments for Dr Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol, the first two cases of Ebola infection in the U.S.

CDC spokesman Melissa Brower said that the agency is taking all needed revisions despite Kaufman's precedence that actions are long overdue.

On the other hand, CDC director Dr Thomas Frieden said he could have done more in his initial response when Thomas Eric Duncan was brought to Dallas.  "We could have sent a more robust hospital infection control team," he added hours before the agency tightened its security measures.

DeAnn McEwan from National Nurses United urged the Congress to make CDC guidelines mandatory since most hospitals tend to ignore rules because they are given voluntarily.

"[Nurses] were learning infection control on the fly," McEwan told New York Times citing instances of exposed necks only covered with medical tape.

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