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Volume 25, Number 1—January 2019
Synopsis

Aeromedical Transfer of Patients with Viral Hemorrhagic Fever

Edward D. NicolComments to Author , Stephen Mepham, Jonathan Naylor, Ian Mollan, Matthew Adam, Joanna d’Arcy, Philip Gillen, Emma Vincent, Belinda Mollan, David Mulvaney, Andrew Green, and Michael Jacobs
Author affiliations: Royal Air Force Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, UK (E.D. Nicol, J. Naylor, I. Mollan, M. Adam, J. d’Arcy, P. Gillen, E. Vincent, B. Mollan, D. Mulvaney); Royal Air Force Henlow, Bedfordshire, UK (E.D. Nicol, J. Naylor, I. Mollan, J. d’Arcy); Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK (S. Mepham, M. Adam, M. Jacobs); Level 2 Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, Birmingham, UK (A. Green)

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Table 1

Aeromedical transfers of patients with confirmed and exposed viral hemorrhagic fever to the United Kingdom, 2012–2016*

Mission Date Infection Origin Patient signs/symptoms (stable/unstable) Isolator type Aircraft Patient outcome
1
 2012 Oct 4
 CCHF
 Afghanistan† (1)
 Blood, diarrhea (unstable)
 T-ATI
 Lockheed C-130 Hercules
 Died
2
 2014 Aug 23
 EVD
 Sierra Leone (4)
 None (stable)
 T-ATI
 Boeing C-17
 Survived
3
 2014 Dec 29
 EVD
 Sierra Leone† (2)
 None (stable)
 T-ATI
 Lockheed C-130 Hercules
 Survived
4
 2015 Jan 29
 Ebola exposure
 Sierra Leone (10)
 None
 SI
 Boeing C-17
 Survived
5
 2015 Jan 31
 Ebola exposure
 Sierra Leone (10)
 None
 SI
 Boeing C-17
 Survived
6 2015 Mar 13 EVD Sierra Leone (3) Diarrhea (stable) T-ATI Boeing C-17 Survived
Ebola exposure Sierra Leone (10) None SI Survived
Ebola exposure
 Sierra Leone (10)
 None
SI
Survived
7
 2015 Mar 13
 Ebola exposure
 Sierra Leone (10)
 None
SI
 Boeing C-17
 Survived
8
 2015 Oct 9
 EVD
 United Kingdom (5)
 Meningitis
 T-ATI
 Boeing C-17
 Survived
9 2016 Mar 22 EVD United Kingdom (6) Late neurologic complications T-ATI Lockheed C-130 Hercules Survived

*CCHF, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever; EVD, Ebola virus disease; SI, stretcher isolator; T-ATI, Trexler Air Transport Isolator; UK, United Kingdom.
†Aeromedical transfer originated within the United Kingdom.

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