(Reuters) - When Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), visited Ebola-stricken sites in West Africa last August, he was dressed in a full protective bodysuit and ventilator.That level of protection was far greater than the basic gear the CDC initially recommended for U.S. hospital workers, which at minimum included a gown, a single pair of gloves, a mask and face shield.
After a second nurse at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas fell ill with Ebola after caring for a dying Liberian patient, the CDC this week beefed up its recommendations for personal protective equipment to include hooded full-body suits that cover the neck, more frequent hand washing and a supervisor who oversees the removal of infected gear, steps experts said should have been done long ago.
Several U.S. medical centers have adopted policies that exceed CDC's guidelines. "We are going higher than what the CDC has said," said Dr. Marc Napp, deputy chief medical officer at Mount Sinai Health System in New York. "We have been really grappling with this for two-and-a-half months."
For example, when Mount Sinai admitted a suspected Ebola patient in August, one of the hospital's infectious disease physicians who does research on Ebola "insisted on going to his lab" and getting his impermeable hooded Tyvek suit.
That set a model for all hospital staff. Mount Sinai is bringing in experts to train them on the proper way to put on and take off the suits.
Luke Chen, an infection prevention expert at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina said the hospital is designating a specific group of experienced staff to treat Ebola using full-length Tyvek suits.