The Laboratory Medicine and the care of patients infected by the Ebola virus. Experience in a reference hospital of Madrid, Spain
-
Belen Fernandez-Puntero
,
Ruben Gomez-Rioja
Abstract
The ongoing Ebola virus outbreak in several countries in West Africa was considered by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a public health emergency of international concern. Healthcare providers must be prepared by organising specific procedures in our hospitals based on recommendations from national and international healthcare organisations. Two aims should be considered: appropriate medical care for patients with suspected or confirmed disease must be ensured, as must measures to prevent transmission to healthcare workers. The clinical laboratory plays an important role and must define and establish its own procedures in accordance with clinicians and integrated into those of the institution, starting with the definition of the organisation model in the laboratory to achieve those goals. In this review we present our experience based on the care of three patients with confirmed cases. We hope it will help other colleagues to plan for Ebola.
Acknowledgments
We thank the work of whole team of the Hospital La Paz Cantoblanco Carlos III Isolation Unit, especially our closest collaborators, see Appendix.
Author contributions: All the authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.
Ethical approval: Not applicable.
Financial support: None declared.
Employment or leadership: None declared.
Honorarium: None declared.
Competing interests: The funding organisation(s) played no role in the study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; or in the decision to submit the report for publication.
Appendix
Complete list of collaborators for the Hospital La Paz Cantoblanco Carlos III Isolation unit
Administration: Mercedes Fernandez de Castro, Yolanda Fuentes, Pilar Moreno
Intensive Care Unit: Lucia Cachafeiro, Juan Carlos Figueira, Eva Flores, Abelardo Garcia de Lorenzo, Ricardo Garcia-Hernandez, Monica Hernandez-Bernal, Jesus Manzanares
Internal Medicine Service: Francisco Arnalich, Jose Ramon Arribas, Marta Arsuaga, Fernando de la Calle, Marta Mora, Mar Lago, German Ramirez-Olivenza
Hematology Service: Aurora Viejo
Laboratory technicians and supervisors: Pilar Bravo, Marta Bretin, Jesús Castro, Rosario Fernandez-Acevedo, Laura Gonzalez-Tejero, Emilia Gomez-Rodriguez, Miriam Gonzalez, Virginia Martin, Raquel Molinero, Melania Perez, Blanca Rico, Yolanda Sevilla, Iluminada Ubierna
Microbiology Service: Julio Garcia
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©2015 by De Gruyter
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Biomarkers of inflammatory bowel disease: ready for prime time?
- Review
- Discriminant indices for distinguishing thalassemia and iron deficiency in patients with microcytic anemia: a meta-analysis
- Mini Reviews
- Cell-free DNA for diagnosing myocardial infarction: not ready for prime time
- The Laboratory Medicine and the care of patients infected by the Ebola virus. Experience in a reference hospital of Madrid, Spain
- Opinion Papers
- Theranos phenomenon − part 2
- Considerations in parathyroid hormone testing
- Quantity quotient reporting. Comparison of various models
- Genetics and Molecular Diagnostics
- Assessing quality and functionality of DNA isolated from FFPE tissues through external quality assessment in tissue banks
- Influence of storage conditions and extraction methods on the quantity and quality of circulating cell-free DNA (ccfDNA): the SPIDIA-DNAplas External Quality Assessment experience
- Non-invasive fetal ABO genotyping in maternal plasma using real-time PCR
- Screening non-deletion α-thalassaemia mutations in the HBA1 and HBA2 genes by high-resolution melting analysis
- General Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine
- European views on patients directly obtaining their laboratory test results
- Diagnostic performances of clinical laboratory tests using Triton X-100 to reduce the biohazard associated with routine testing of Ebola virus-infected patients
- Thrombin generation, D-dimer and protein S in uncomplicated pregnancy
- Multi-analyte analysis of non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants in human plasma using tandem mass spectrometry
- Second generation analysis of antinuclear antibody (ANA) by combination of screening and confirmatory testing
- Faecal leukocyte esterase activity is an alternative biomarker in inflammatory bowel disease
- Reference Values and Biological Variations
- Total folate and 5-methyltetrahydrofolate in the cerebrospinal fluid of children: correlation and reference values
- Effect of age and gender on reference intervals of red blood cell distribution width (RDW) and mean red cell volume (MCV)
- Infectious Diseases
- Inosine triphosphate pyrophosphohydrolase activity: more accurate predictor for ribavirin-induced anemia in hepatitis C infected patients than ITPA genotype
- The ratio of calprotectin to total protein as a diagnostic and prognostic marker for spontaneous bacterial peritonitis in patients with liver cirrhosis and ascites
- Letter to the Editors
- Misleading high-sensitivity troponin algorithm for NSTEMI in the ESC guidelines
- Adjustment of serum potassium for age and platelet count. A simple step forward towards personalized medicine
- The impact of Tween 20 on repeatability of amyloid β and tau measurements in cerebrospinal fluid
- Effect of storage time and temperature on the generation of reactive oxygen species in peripheral blood leukocytes
- Iohexol interference in the α2-globulin fraction of the serum protein capillary electrophoresis
- A functional variant in the γ-glutamyltransferase (GGT)1 gene is associated with airflow obstruction in smokers
- Comparison of measured venous carbon dioxide and calculated arterial bicarbonates according to the PaCO2 and PaO2 cut-off values of obesity hypoventilation syndrome
- Creatinine, Jaffe, and glucose: another inconvenient truth
- Analytical evaluation of a new liquid immunoturbidimetric assay for the determination of ferritin in serum
- Analytical assessment of the novel homocysteine liquid enzymatic assay on Beckman Coulter AU5800
- Immunoglobulin IgA, IgD, IgG, IgM and IgG subclass reference values in adults
