Guidance for contact tracing of cases of Lassa fever, Ebola or Marburg haemorrhagic fever on an airplane: results of a European expert consultation
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Travel from countries where viral haemorrhagic fevers (VHF) are endemic has increased significantly over the past decades. In several reported VHF events on airplanes, passenger trace back was initiated but the scale of the trace bac...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2012-11-01
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| Series: | BMC Public Health |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/12/1014 |
| _version_ | 1818492556185436160 |
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| author | Gilsdorf Andreas Morgan Dilys Leitmeyer Katrin |
| author_facet | Gilsdorf Andreas Morgan Dilys Leitmeyer Katrin |
| author_sort | Gilsdorf Andreas |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Travel from countries where viral haemorrhagic fevers (VHF) are endemic has increased significantly over the past decades. In several reported VHF events on airplanes, passenger trace back was initiated but the scale of the trace back differed considerably. The absence of guidance documents to help the decision on necessity and scale of the trace back contributed to this variation.</p> <p>This article outlines the recommendations of an expert panel on Lassa fever, Ebola and Marburg haemorrhagic fever to the wider scientific community in order to advise the relevant stakeholders in the decision and scale of a possible passenger trace back.</p> <p>Method</p> <p>The evidence was collected through review of published literature and through the views of an expert panel. The guidance was agreed by consensus.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Only a few events of VHF cases during air travel are reported in literature, with no documented infection in followed up contacts, so that no evidence of transmission of VHF during air travel exists to date. Based on this and the expert opinion, it was recommended that passenger trace back was undertaken only if: the index case had symptoms during the flight; the flight was within 21 days after detection of the event; and for Lassa fever if exposure of body fluid has been reported. The trace back should only be done after confirmation of the index case. Passengers and crew with direct contact, seat neighbours (+/− 1 seat), crew and cleaning personal of the section of the index case should be included in the trace back.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>No evidence has been found for the transmission of VHF in airplanes. This information should be taken into account, when a trace back decision has to be taken, because such a measure produces an enormous work load. The procedure suggested by the expert group can guide decisions made in future events, where a patient with suspected VHF infection travelled on a plane. However, the actual decision on start and scale of a trace back always lies in the hands of the responsible people taking all relevant information into account.</p> |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T17:44:50Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8f1ba816554f4b3780b3f4ec504a2754 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1471-2458 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T17:44:50Z |
| publishDate | 2012-11-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMC Public Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-8f1ba816554f4b3780b3f4ec504a27542022-12-22T01:39:16ZengBMCBMC Public Health1471-24582012-11-01121101410.1186/1471-2458-12-1014Guidance for contact tracing of cases of Lassa fever, Ebola or Marburg haemorrhagic fever on an airplane: results of a European expert consultationGilsdorf AndreasMorgan DilysLeitmeyer Katrin<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Travel from countries where viral haemorrhagic fevers (VHF) are endemic has increased significantly over the past decades. In several reported VHF events on airplanes, passenger trace back was initiated but the scale of the trace back differed considerably. The absence of guidance documents to help the decision on necessity and scale of the trace back contributed to this variation.</p> <p>This article outlines the recommendations of an expert panel on Lassa fever, Ebola and Marburg haemorrhagic fever to the wider scientific community in order to advise the relevant stakeholders in the decision and scale of a possible passenger trace back.</p> <p>Method</p> <p>The evidence was collected through review of published literature and through the views of an expert panel. The guidance was agreed by consensus.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Only a few events of VHF cases during air travel are reported in literature, with no documented infection in followed up contacts, so that no evidence of transmission of VHF during air travel exists to date. Based on this and the expert opinion, it was recommended that passenger trace back was undertaken only if: the index case had symptoms during the flight; the flight was within 21 days after detection of the event; and for Lassa fever if exposure of body fluid has been reported. The trace back should only be done after confirmation of the index case. Passengers and crew with direct contact, seat neighbours (+/− 1 seat), crew and cleaning personal of the section of the index case should be included in the trace back.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>No evidence has been found for the transmission of VHF in airplanes. This information should be taken into account, when a trace back decision has to be taken, because such a measure produces an enormous work load. The procedure suggested by the expert group can guide decisions made in future events, where a patient with suspected VHF infection travelled on a plane. However, the actual decision on start and scale of a trace back always lies in the hands of the responsible people taking all relevant information into account.</p>http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/12/1014Viral haemorrhagic feverLassa feverEbola haemorrhagic feverMarburg haemorrhagic feverPassenger trace backContact tracingAir travel |
| spellingShingle | Gilsdorf Andreas Morgan Dilys Leitmeyer Katrin Guidance for contact tracing of cases of Lassa fever, Ebola or Marburg haemorrhagic fever on an airplane: results of a European expert consultation BMC Public Health Viral haemorrhagic fever Lassa fever Ebola haemorrhagic fever Marburg haemorrhagic fever Passenger trace back Contact tracing Air travel |
| title | Guidance for contact tracing of cases of Lassa fever, Ebola or Marburg haemorrhagic fever on an airplane: results of a European expert consultation |
| title_full | Guidance for contact tracing of cases of Lassa fever, Ebola or Marburg haemorrhagic fever on an airplane: results of a European expert consultation |
| title_fullStr | Guidance for contact tracing of cases of Lassa fever, Ebola or Marburg haemorrhagic fever on an airplane: results of a European expert consultation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Guidance for contact tracing of cases of Lassa fever, Ebola or Marburg haemorrhagic fever on an airplane: results of a European expert consultation |
| title_short | Guidance for contact tracing of cases of Lassa fever, Ebola or Marburg haemorrhagic fever on an airplane: results of a European expert consultation |
| title_sort | guidance for contact tracing of cases of lassa fever ebola or marburg haemorrhagic fever on an airplane results of a european expert consultation |
| topic | Viral haemorrhagic fever Lassa fever Ebola haemorrhagic fever Marburg haemorrhagic fever Passenger trace back Contact tracing Air travel |
| url | http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/12/1014 |
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