Perspectives on the Management of Children in a Biocontainment Unit: Report of the NETEC Pediatric Workgroup

During the outbreak of Ebola virus disease that struck West Africa during 2014-2016, a small handful of expatriate patients were evacuated to specialized high-level containment care units, or biocontainment units, in the United States and Western Europe. Given the lower mortality rate (18% versus 40% for those treated in Africa) among these patients, it is likely that high-level containment care will be used in the future with increasing frequency. It is also likely that children infected with Ebola and other highly hazardous communicable diseases will someday require such care. The National Ebola Training and Education Center convened a pediatric workgroup to consider the unique and problematic issues posed by these potential child patients. We report here the results of those discussions.