Ebola
There is no FDA-approved vaccine available for Ebola.
If you travel to or are in an area affected by an Ebola outbreak, make sure to do the following:
- Practice careful hygiene. For example, wash your hands with soap and water or an alcohol-based hand sanitizer and avoid contact with blood and body fluids (such as urine, feces, saliva, sweat, urine, vomit, breast milk, semen, and vaginal fluids).
- Do not handle items that may have come in contact with an infected person’s blood or body fluids (such as clothes, bedding, needles, and medical equipment).
- Avoid funeral or burial rituals that require handling the body of someone who has died from Ebola.
- Avoid contact with bats and nonhuman primates or blood, fluids, and raw meat prepared from these animals.
- Avoid facilities in West Africa where Ebola patients are being treated. The U.S. embassy or consulate is often able to provide advice on facilities.
- Avoid contact with semen from a man who has had Ebola until you know Ebola is gone from his semen.
- After you return, monitor your health for 21 days and seek medical care immediately if you develop symptoms of Ebola.
Healthcare workers who may be exposed to people with Ebola should follow these steps:
- Wear appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE).
- Practice proper infection control and sterilization measures. For more information, see U.S. Healthcare Workers and Settings.
- Isolate patients with Ebola from other patients.
- Avoid direct, unprotected contact with the bodies of people who have died from Ebola.
- Notify health officials if you have had direct contact with the blood or body fluids, such as but not limited to, feces, saliva, urine, vomit, and semen of a person who is sick with Ebola. The virus can enter the body through broken skin or unprotected mucous membranes in, for example, the eyes, nose, or mouth.
CONTRACT CLEANERS SUPPLY: HOW WE CAN HELP FIGHT IT
Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF) is the severe, life-threatening disease caused by infection with an Ebola virus. Many people who contract EHF die from it.
Worker Protection
Workers performing cleaning tasks in areas contaminated by symptomatic individuals with EHF or environments reasonably anticipated to be contaminated with infectious body fluids are at risk of exposure.
Appropriate Disinfectants
Use an U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-registered disinfectant that is effective against a non-enveloped virus to disinfect hard non-porous environmental surfaces. Look for products with a label which claims to be effective against non-enveloped viruses such as norovirus, rotavirus, adenovirus, or the poliovirus.