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Volume 23, Number 12—December 2017
Dispatch

Lack of Secondary Transmission of Ebola Virus from Healthcare Worker to 238 Contacts, United Kingdom, December 2014

Paul CrookComments to Author , Alison Smith-Palmer, Helen Maguire, Noel McCarthy, Hilary Kirkbride, Bruce Court, Sanch Kanagarajah, Deborah Turbitt, Syed Ahmed, Paul Cosford, and Isabel Oliver
Author affiliations: Public Health England, London, UK (P. Crook, H. Maguire, N. McCarthy, H. Kirkbride, B. Court, S. Kanagarajah, D. Turbitt, P. Cosford, I. Oliver); Health Protection Scotland, Glasgow, Scotland, UK (A. Smith-Palmer, S. Ahmed); University College London, London (H. Maguire)

Main Article

Table

Characteristics of 238 contacts of a healthcare worker with Ebola virus disease and summary of public health action, by exposure category, United Kingdom, December 2014*

Characteristic
 No. contacts by exposure category
 Total
1; No direct contact
 2; Direct contact with low risk for exposure
 3; Direct contact with high risk for exposure
Exposure setting
Casablanca–LHR passengers 109 23 0 132
Casablanca–LHR crew 13 0 0 13
LHR PHE screeners 4 0 0 4
LHR Border Force 7 0 0 7
LHR–Glasgow passengers 62 8 0 70
LHR–Glasgow crew 7† 0 0 7
Healthcare workers 4‡ 0 0 4
Glasgow community 0 1 0 1
Total§ 185 24 29¶ 238
Summary of public health action Risk assessment questionnaire completed; provided telephone advice on symptoms of EVD; action to take if they had fever or symptoms consistent with EVD in the 21 d after their most recent exposure; advised that there was no reason to stop their day-to-day activities during the surveillance period provided they remained well; advised that their family and household contacts were not at risk for EVD if contact remained asymptomatic As for category 1 plus provided written advice and a temperature monitoring kit, advised to take their temperature twice a day and to contact the local public health team if they had a fever or symptoms consistent with EVD in the 21 d after their most recent exposure; advised to delay any nonessential healthcare treatment until after the 21-d period; local public health teams assessed the contact after 21 d and reported their completion of public health follow-up As for category 2 plus required to contact the local public health team daily to report their temperature and advised not to undertake healthcare activity; if contact was not made, the local public health team contacted them NA

*In England a home visit was attempted if no telephone contact was possible. EVD, Ebola virus disease; LHR, London Heathrow Airport; NA, not applicable; PHE, Public Health England.
†Includes 3 cabin staff and 4 land customer services staff.
‡Includes 2 doctors and 2 nurses who provided dedicated care to the patient while in the specialist infectious diseases unit.
§Reflects overall number of persons categorized according to their highest category, including those categorized because of their healthcare work contact in Sierra Leone. Numbers in each category do not represent a sum of a column.
¶29 contacts who flew from Casablanca–LHR were classified as category 3 because of their healthcare-related activity in West Africa.

Main Article

Page created: March 05, 2018
Page updated: March 05, 2018
Page reviewed: March 05, 2018
The conclusions, findings, and opinions expressed by authors contributing to this journal do not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Public Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the authors' affiliated institutions. Use of trade names is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by any of the groups named above.
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