Public health experts urge U.S. hospitals to be prepared as Ebola outbreak accelerates.

With the outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EBD) accelerating in West Africa, public health authorities are urging frontline providers in the United States to be vigilant in questioning patients who present with a suspected infectious disease, and in adhering to infection control practices. Recent travel to West Africa and contact with others who may have been exposed to EVD are key points that need to be covered at triage, say experts. The World Health Organization (WHO) indicates that mortality from the latest outbreak is 55%, although it is as high as 75% in Guinea. Health care workers are particularly vulnerable to EVD, with WHO noting that more than 250 workers in West Africa have contracted EVD and at least 120 have died from the disease. Experts say that one of the greatest times of risk for health care workers is while a patient is at triage because he or she has not yet been placed in isolation precautions. The CDC is recommending that hospitals rigorously apply standard infection control policies at a minimum, and that extra protective equipment may be required when there are body fluids in the patient environment. Hospitals in 27 states have reported dozens of suspected cases of EVD to the CDC, but at press time, none had yet tested positive.