Isolation & Quarantine Measures in Response to a Smallpox Emergency

Personal Protective Equipment

Gowns, gloves, masks and other protective clothing should be used. Personnel should remove and correctly dispose of all protective clothing before leaving patient care area and having contact with other people. Reusable bedding and clothing can be autoclaved or laundered in hot water with bleach to inactivate the virus. People who come into contact with materials potentially contaminated with smallpox virus, such as laundry handlers, housekeeping, and laboratory personnel should utilize appropriate precautions and protective clothing and equipment.

If a case of smallpox is confirmed, all personnel should be vaccinated before caring for suspected smallpox patients or handling contaminated materials.

For airborne precautions should use an N95 type mask or particulate respirator at a minimum. (This is the same recommendation that has been made for protecting health care workers against tuberculosis infection.) Proper fit testing is important to maximize the effectiveness of the mask. An N95 respirator will ONLY offer maximally effective protection if it has been tested to show that it fits well. If the respirator has a bad fit, inhaled air can leak around the edges and be inhaled without going through the filter. If the respirator has been fit tested, and the edges seal well to the face, inhaled air goes through the filter allowing the majority of the microorganisms and particulate matter to be filtered out of the air before it is inhaled.

Placing the patient in negative pressure isolation rooms will prevent potentially contaminated air from traveling to areas outside of the room. If the number of smallpox patients is greater than the number of negative pressure isolation rooms or if no such rooms exist, patients should be isolated in a separate facility that does not share air ventilation with any other facility. 

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