There seems to be a big disconnect between the solutions being proposed here and what is viable/needed on the ground. Much of the discussion has been focused on improving isolation suits. Although occasionally shown in the media as I understand it these are not what is typically used in the epidemic area. Patrik was spot on when he said,
Cooling the healthcare worker may still be beneficial but it would probably need to be something like the cooling vests bikers sometimes use rather than an air conditioning system.
"- They seem to be wearing isolation suits designed to protect against aerosols, but Ebola is not aerosol transmitted. Can the suits be simplified, so health workers no longer need to choose between dying of heat exhaustion of infection."
They aren't needed so more efficient solutions are used. Wearing multiple layers, gloves, apron, face mask etc is still very hot though.
This page summarizes the key aspects for how ebola patients should be managed - http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/hcp/infection-prevention-and-control-recommendations.html
Some more details on the PPE being used - http://www.who.int/features/2014/ebola-liberia/en/
This video gives a good overview of the situation on the ground - http://videocast.nih.gov/launch.asp?18628On 4 October 2014 15:10, Bryan Bishop <kanzure@gmail.com> wrote:
--On Thu, Oct 2, 2014 at 5:35 AM, Patrik D'haeseleer <patrikd@gmail.com> wrote:- Bryan- Protective equipment is a huge issue, with health workers needing to wear head-to-toe protective suits in 100+ F heat all day long. Can we learn anything from how sports mascot suits are constructed with built-in ventilation, for example? Just a wild idea...You may be interested in looking into how astronauts keep cool. They have reduced maneuverability but there's all sorts of strange materials to help with heat management issues. Also, consider flipping it around where instead of isolating healthcare workers from patients, the patients should be the ones under isolation (and from each other, and don't contaminate different patients with the same hazard suits, etc). Unfortunately the cost of per-patient isolation is high. I am not sure how to solve that. Isolation tanks, flush to clean? https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1070936311/zen-float-tent-first-affordable-isolation-tank-for Needs some rubber glove attachments, larger windows, temperature sensors, communication, entertainment/music, secure draining (or just constant flow of water), feeding, wash cycle, some way of keeping comfortable during dry cycles, etc. I haven't put much thought into this.- Taking *off* those protective suits turns out to be a major source of infections for hospital personnel. Could they be redesigned to be more inherently safe to take off? NASA's new Z-1 Z-1 space suit has a hatch on the back that allows the suit to dock with a portal on a spacecraft or rover so an astronaut can crawl through without letting dust in or air out. Probably overkill, but perhaps there's something to treating the entire suit as a "glove" that you can take off.I think overkill is better in this situation, since the alternative means possible infection. Start with overkill, then back off from there.
http://heybryan.org/
1 512 203 0507
-- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups DIYbio group. To post to this group, send email to diybio@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to diybio+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at https://groups.google.com/d/forum/diybio?hl=en
Learn more at www.diybio.org
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "DIYbio" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to diybio+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to diybio@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/diybio.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/diybio/CABaSBaxzUOYqScTKmQD7X0S-Eqkg-%2BYz5%3D8grq%2BwppXeQWtyww%40mail.gmail.com.
-- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups DIYbio group. To post to this group, send email to diybio@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to diybio+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at https://groups.google.com/d/forum/diybio?hl=en
Learn more at www.diybio.org
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "DIYbio" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to diybio+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to diybio@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/diybio.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/diybio/CAE5C4azycp3PEtBMKexn5Z7Uh7d8-DeayUgcVLyMf8vcQRKr2g%40mail.gmail.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
0 comments:
Post a Comment