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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