PURPOSE OF THIS MANUAL
This manual provides guidance on best practices to be followed in Ebola Care Units (ECUs)/Community Care Centres (CCCs). It is intended for health aid workers (including junior nurses and community health-care workers) and others providing care for patients in ECUs/CCCs. While the focus is on the care and management of patients with Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), the care of patients with other causes of fever is also described.
EVD spreads from an infected sick person to others when there is direct contact with bodily fluids. EVD should be considered a possible diagnosis for every patient presenting to an ECU/CCC with fever. Attending health aid workers should protect themselves by taking appropriate precautions. At the same time, health aid workers should respect each patient and provide treatment and care with dignity.
Patients with EVD can have symptoms similar to patients with malaria and other endemic infectious diseases including typhoid and Lassa fever. Given that the EVD-affected areas in West Africa are located in high malaria-endemic zones, patients with fever should be appropriately treated for malaria.
Procedures detailed here to care for and manage patients with fever and EVD in ECUs/CCCs should help to establish a systematic approach at the community level for providing reliable and acceptable health care.
