Infection Control Measures While Caring for Patients with Suspected or Confirmed Ebola Virus Disease at The National Institutes of Health

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Center is one of four facilities in the United States with a high containment unit specially designed to care for patients requiring high levels of isolation. In September 2014, the NIH Clinical Center accepted its first patient with a high-risk occupational exposure to Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) from West Africa. Since then, the NIH Clinical Center has cared for three additional patients with known or suspected EVD.

In order to safely provide care to these patients, the NIH Clinical Center adhered to strict infection control practices from meticulous donning and doffing personal protective equipment to autoclaving waste from the patient room prior to incineration. Additional practices such as continuous cleaning and decontamination of the patient’s room with hydrogen peroxide vapors were imperative to control environmental contamination.