To contain Ebola, train caregivers first
With the risk of catching the disease high - the diagnosis of Ebola, its treatment and care should be left only to teams of well-trained providers.
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EBOLA has spread terror because of its potential to kill - and even more so as the caregivers and physicians on whom patients depend are frequently felled by the malady. To deal with Ebola and other highly contagious diseases that are bound to emerge, a global plan is needed to prepare caregivers.
The Ebola virus can be easily transmitted when a patient is symptomatic and highly infectious. Infectiousness increases as the disease progresses, and one fifth of a teaspoon of blood from an actively infected Ebola patient is estimated to contain 10 billion particles of the virus. For health-care workers, it means that slightly incorrect glove removal followed by a quick brush of one's eye or wipe of the nose could be deadly.
Meanwhile, the disparity in the number of caregivers poses challenges: The United States has 2.5 physicians per 1,000 people, whereas countries like Liberia and Sierra Leone have essentially zero, reports the World Bank; the United States has 9.8 nurses and midwives per 1,000 people, while Liberia has 0.3, and Sierra Leone, 0.2.
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