Am I missing something about Ebola??

[zacarias, ASN, RN]

Hey all,

OK I know that Ebola is spread by bodily fluids, so effectively it should be contact precautions. If this is so, why all the extensive PPE recommendations and N95 masks etc. It just seems overkill. Is the mortality rate the driving factor for all the PPE and "no skin exposed" rule? Is there a possibility that it's transmitted via other methods not yet known and so they are being overly cautious?

Hopefully I'm not the only one thinking that some of this stuff is overkill.

Z

[klone, MSN, RN]

Yes, it's the mortality rate. Influenza is much easier to transmit than Ebola. If it had a 70% mortality rate, I'm sure we'd have the same extra-cautious precautions.