Ebola Doctors

The reality of Ebola is this: the care needed to help an infected patient survive is inextricably linked to the exposure that threatens the life of the health care worker.

The outbreak raging through West Africa has killed prominent doctors Sheik Umar Khan and Samuel Brisbane and led to the infection of two American health care workers. This news is a reminder of the risks these heroic providers face.

“The first rule of infectious disease is ‘Don’t get the infectious disease.’ The second rule is ‘Always follow the rules.'” This advice was given to me by Dr. Myron Cohen, division chief for infectious diseases at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, before I left to treat Ebola-infected patients in Guinea. But the rules are more than a Fight Club–inspired motto. While Ebola is one of the deadliest viruses known, transmission can be prevented through strict hand hygiene and barrier protective clothing. The rituals that accompany the application–and more important, the removal–of personal protection equipment are critical. These rituals are the rules.

With knowledge of and respect for the rules, health care workers can mitigate the risks to safely provide the critical care support so desperately needed. Yet we have been reminded that the risks never truly go away.

Fischer is a doctor at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine