WHO Reports Out Improved Standards For Protecting Health Workers, In Ebola And Marburg Outbreaks...

The new WHO-generated advice is the result of deep experience in the last decade, during prior flare ups.

The central message is to ease back on the spraying of aerosolized higher concentration chlorine solutions creates more problems and risks than it ameliorates. Here's the latest -- and a bit, from MedPage Today:

. . .Excessive or inappropriate use of PPE is associated with adverse effects for healthcare workers and negative impacts on the environment, they noted. Spraying workers and the environment with chlorine during Ebola and Marburg virus outbreaks remains a common practice, but causes adverse ocular, respiratory, and skin reactions. Instead, the WHO recommends wiping potentially contaminated surfaces with disinfectant.

One example of confusion surrounding PPE use is that some facilities rely on double gloving with variable approaches to changing gloves between patients and glove disinfection, Willet and colleagues pointed out. The new guidelines, which were published last August, clarify when double or single gloving should be used, how to disinfect gloves, and when to change gloves between patients. . . .

We all know there will be another outbreak, the question is simply. . . when -- and how best to minimize the number of deaths, when it comes. . . as "the fire, next time". Onward. . . smiling into the sunshine just the same.

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