Emerging Infectious Disease ISSN: 1080-6059

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Managing Potential Laboratory Exposure to Ebola Virus by Using a Patient Biocontainment Care Unit¹

Mark G. Kortepeter*

, James W. Martin*, Janice M. Rusnak*, Theodore J. Cieslak†, Kelly L. Warfield*, Edwin L. Anderson*, and Manmohan V. Ranadive*

Author affiliations: *US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, Fort Detrick, Maryland, USA; †San Antonio Military Pediatric Center, San Antonio, Texas, USA;

Main Article

Table 1

Admissions into the medical containment suite at the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, 1972–2004*

Patient no.	Date of admission	Days in isolation	Virus†	Reason for admission	Therapy‡	Comments§
1	1972 Oct	18	Machupo	Cut finger	IP
2	1975 Oct	42	Machupo	Cut finger	IP, IG
3	1976 Oct	21	JEB	Fingerstick
4	1977 Sep	14	Machupo	Vial leak
5	1977 Sep	14	Machupo	Vial leak
6	1978 May	11	Dengue	Not specified		Modified CC
7	1978 May	8	Dengue	Not specified		Modified CC
8	1978 Jun	17	Lassa	Dropped vial	LIG
9	1978 Jun	17	Lassa	Dropped vial	LIG
10	1978 Jul	8	Lassa	Field exposure
11	1978 Nov	14	Lassa	Suit seam failed
12	1979 May	20	Lassa	Fingerstick	IP
13¶	1979 Jul	21	Lassa	Fingerstick	IP
14	1979 Nov	20	Lassa	Fingerstick	IP, Rib
15	1981 May	14	Ebola/Lassa	Field exposure		Modified CC
16	1982 Oct	14	Junin	Defective suit seal		Conventional
17	1982 Dec	21	Junin	Fingerstick	IP
18	1983 Jan	3	Rift Valley fever	Waste exposure
19	1983 Apr	14	Junin	Defective suit seal		Conventional
20	1985 May	4	Junin	Fingerstick
21	2004 Feb	21	Ebola	Fingerstick

*Modified from Cieslak et al. (8) with permission.
†JEB, Japanese encephalitis virus B; Ebola/Lassa, potential exposure to these viruses.
‡IP, immune plasma from previously infected survivors; IG, immune globulin; LIG, Lassa immune globulin; Rib, ribavirin.
§CC, containment care; modified CC, provided by converting a separate physical facility into a Biosafety Level 4–like suite; conventional, Biosafety Level 3 isolation was permitted for 2 lower risk exposures.
¶Not noted in previous reports (7,8).

Main Article

¹This article is derived from the lecture “10 Steps in Managing an Ebola Exposure,” presented at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, December 15, 2005, Washington, DC, USA, and September 26, 2006, San Francisco, CA, USA.

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