
Various guidelines for caring for patients infected with Ebola virus are being issued from different national and state public health authorities, professional societies, and individual hospitals. Experts are questioning aspects of some of the guidelines that go beyond current CDC recommendations, especially those that call for suspending certain routine lab tests.
The authors of a Transfusion commentary note that most individuals with suspected Ebola virus disease will have a fever due to another cause, and forgoing such testing may compromise patients' health more than any reduction in the risks to laboratory personnel.
The authors also state that it is imperative for all laboratory directors to work with institutional infection control and safety personnel to evaluate their hospital policies on potentially infectious patients in order to provide a safe environment for their patients and employees.
Source: Eurekalert
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