Infection Control and Avian Influenza Recommendations
Infection Control and Avian Influenza Recommendations
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued recommendations for infection control in health care facilities to prevent possible spread of avian influenza:
Patients who present to a health care setting with fever and respiratory symptoms should be managed according to recommendations for respiratory hygiene and cough etiquette and questioned regarding recent travel history. Those with a history of travel within 10 days to a country with avian influenza activity and hospitalized with a severe febrile respiratory illness — or are under evaluation for avian influenza — should be managed using isolation precautions identical to those recommended for known severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). These include:
Standard Precautions
- Pay careful attention to hand hygiene before and after patient contact or contact with items potentially contaminated with respiratory secretions.
Contact Precautions
- Use gloves and gown for all patient contact.
- Use dedicated equipment such as stethoscopes, disposable blood pressure cuffs, disposable thermometers, etc.
Eye Protection (i.e., goggles or faceshields)
- Wear protection when within 3 feet of patients.
Airborne Precautions
- Place patient in an airborne isolation room (AIR). These should have monitored negative air pressure in relation to corridor, with 6 to 12 air changes per hour (ACH), and exhaust air directly outside or recirculated air filtered by a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter. If an AIR is unavailable, contact facility engineer to assist or use portable HEPA filters to augment the number of ACH.
- Use a fit-tested respirator, at least as protective as a National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health-approved N-95 filtering facepiece (i.e., disposable) respirator, when entering the room.
These precautions should be continued for 14 days after onset of symptoms or until either an alternative diagnosis is established or diagnostic test results indicate the patient is not infected with influenza A virus. Patients managed as outpatients or hospitalized patients discharged before 14 days with suspected avian influenza should be isolated in the home setting on the basis of principles outlined for the home isolation of SARS patients (see www.cdc.gov/ncidod/sars/guidance/i/pdf/i.pdf). For additional information regarding these and other health care isolation precautions, see Guidelines for Isolation Precautions in Hospitals (www.cdc.gov/ncidod/hip/ISOLAT/Isolat.htm).
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued recommendations for infection control in health care facilities to prevent possible spread of avian influenza.Subscribe Now for Access
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