Practical guidelines for the management of Ebola infected patients in the field

Ebola hemorrhagic fever appears after an incubation of 3 days to 3 weeks. The first symptoms are fever accompanied by general and hemorrhagic signs leading to death in 50 to 90% of cases. During epidemics definition of cases permits prompt diagnosis. Due to the high risk of person-to-person and nosocomial transmission associated with Ebola hemorrhagic fever, management is based on isolation of patients and institution of protected care. Hands and soiled material are often decontaminated using sodium hypochlorite. Patient waste is decontaminated and incinerated. Treatment is essentially supportive. There is currently no vaccine available. Persons having been in close contact with patient should be kept under medical surveillance for 21 days. Recovering patients should use condoms for three months. Bodies of deceased patients should be handled by trained teams and buried quickly.