ATLANTA — Under new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), hospitals treating patients confirmed as having the Ebola virus are advised to forgo laundering all potentially contaminated linens and discard them as regulated medical waste.
The new guidance comes as hospitals prepare for the possibility of treating patients arriving from West Africa with the deadly virus, which has killed more than 2,400 people on that continent, according to the World Health Organization. Currently, only Atlanta’s Emory University Hospital and Omaha’s Nebraska Medical Center have treated patients who arrived in the U.S. from West Africa infected with the virus.
In cases where the Ebola virus is suspected in a patient but not confirmed, the CDC says linen should be left in the patient room until test results are obtained, which can take 24-72 hours. If the tests show the patient is not infected, the linen can be processed according to “regular procedure” at a facility; if the patient does indeed have the virus, the linen should be discarded and treated as regulated medical waste.
Healthcare facilities are advised to avoid placing patients with suspected or confirmed Ebola virus in carpeted rooms. Upholstered furniture and decorative curtains should be removed from the patient room before use as part of the CDC’s guidance to avoid contamination of “reusable porous surfaces that cannot be made single use.” Only a mattress and pillow with plastic or other covering should be used.
Additional recommendations regarding the use of disinfectants, dealing with spills and recommendations for disposing of waste can be found in Interim Guidance for Environmental Infection Control in Hospitals for Ebola Virus, available online at www.cdc.gov. Those involved in textile care management in healthcare facilities are encouraged to review the document in full, as not all recommendations are outlined here.
On Sept. 6, the CDC released a Health Care Facility Preparedness Checklist for Ebola Virus Disease (EVD). The checklist, also available at the CDC website, outlines the infection control procedures a facility should review in preparation for treating a patient with the virus, and includes recommendations for the review of environmental cleaning procedures, PPE, infection control supplies, and education and training of healthcare personnel, among others.
REACTIONS FROM INDUSTRY ORGANIZATIONS
“Overall, the CDC is extremely confident our healthcare system can handle any threat from Ebola. It is an ‘envelope’ virus and is easily killed by standard cleaners,” the American Reusable Textile Association (ARTA) says in an e-mail to its membership. “It is important to reassure clients and employees that our healthcare system and professional launderers can easily defeat the Ebola virus.”
The Healthcare Laundry Accreditation Council (HLAC) released a statement reminding accredited laundries to “maintain their diligence in following the safe laundry procedures set forth in its standards for processing healthcare textiles.” Gregory Gicewicz, president of HLAC, states that the council has outlined procedures that are “particularly relevant” to the Ebola situation that can be found in Accreditation Standards for Processing Reusable Textiles for use in Healthcare Facilities, 2011 edition, available at HLAC’s website, www.hlacnet.org.
On its website, the Association for Linen Management provides a link to a forum where association members can post questions related to handling potentially contaminated linens. ALM says it will work to get the questions addressed and provide responses to members.
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