Use of personal protective equipment for safe first assessment of Persons Under Investigation of Ebola virus disease in the EU/EEA

Infectious diseases of high consequence (IDHC) are serious threats to human health. Patients with such diseases typically develop severe symptoms, require a high level of care, and the case-fatality rates can be high. Often, there is no specific vaccine, prophylaxis or treatment available. Several IDHC are transmissible from person to person and therefore require transmission precautions in healthcare workers (HCW). Depending on the transmission mode (e.g. by droplets or airborne) and their infectivity, they can generate large-scale epidemics (e.g. Ebola in West Africa 2014 or SARS in 2003) or even pandemics (e.g. the Spanish influenza pandemic in 1918).