U.S. to issue new Ebola care guidelines, watch lists to shrink

ROUNDUP OF DEVELOPMENTS SUNDAY

REUTERS                                     Oct 19, 2014

By Erwin Seba

GALVESTON Texas --(Reuters) - The United States will issue strict new guidelines telling American health workers to cover their skin and hair when dealing with Ebola patients, a top health official said on Sunday, while some of the dozens of people being watched for possible exposure to the virus are expected to be cleared.

 A health care worker receives protocol on the proper removal of personal protection equipment from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) instructors in preparation for the response to the current Ebola outbreak, during a CDC safety training course in Anniston, Alabama, October 6, 2014. Credit: Reuters/Tami Chappell

In Texas, a lab worker who spent much of a Caribbean holiday cruise in isolation tested negative for the deadly virus and left the Carnival Magic liner with other passengers after it docked at Galveston early on Sunday morning....

Belgium announced on Sunday it would screen people arriving at its largest airport from West Africa for signs of fever. In Spain, the government said Teresa Romero, the nurse who contracted Ebola while caring for two infected priests, appeared to be free of the disease.

The new guidelines being developed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would increase protection for medical workers caring for Ebola patients....

Health workers would be told to cover hair and skin completely, said Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The old guidelines, modelled after World Health Organization protocols, said workers should wear masks but "did have some exposure of the skin," he said.

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