Frankfurt Airport makes Ebola arrangements

Ebola danger: arrangements at Frankfurt airport

08/05/2014

The Ebola epidemic in West Africa continues to spread. Hundreds of people have already died. According to experts, spreading the dangerous infectious disease in Germany would be unlikely. At the airport Frankfurt one would be prepared for possible Ebola cases.

Ebola epidemic continues to spread
The Ebola epidemic in West Africa is getting more and more out of control. According to recent figures from the World Health Organization (WHO), at least 887 people have already died from the dangerous infectious disease, and 1,603 infections with the deadly virus were registered until the beginning of the month. Just recently, the German Armed Forces responded with an emergency plan against the Ebola epidemic in order to protect their African-based counterparts. And even if an Ebola spread is considered unlikely in Germany, provision will nevertheless be made. Thus, a possible gateway for the disease, the Frankfurt airport, would be prepared if infected people were to land there.

Emergency plan for dealing with dangerous infections
According to a report by the dpa news agency, the cascade of protective measures would start with a red dot for infected persons and yellow and green dots for the remaining passengers if an Ebola infected person were to land at Frankfurt airport. The head of the health department of the city of Frankfurt holds it for „extremely unlikely“, that someone on board has to be ill and isolated at the airport, but there is a plan for such cases. Such an emergency plan for dealing with dangerous infections at Frankfurt Airport has been around for years and will be expanded on a case-by-case basis. In 2003, the first Sars patient landed on European soil in Frankfurt and in 2006 there was a case of Lassa fever. „And everyone survived“, said Health Minister René Gottschalk, who is also responsible for the airport, with. „These are all tested procedures and they work very well.“

„Frankfurt model“ finds imitators worldwide
The basis of such emergency plans are international WHO regulations. The implementation of these rules is meanwhile at Germany's largest airport with its annually 58 million passengers „an almost unmanageable structure“, Gottschalk. Swine flu in 2009, which required staff to be increased, was the final big challenge. When „Frankfurt model“ The idea of ​​flagging passengers with traffic light colors has found imitators worldwide. Fraport spokesman Christopher Holschier said the pilot would report to the tower if a guest noticed any risk symptoms. Typical Ebola symptoms include fever, diarrhea and internal and external bleeding.

In an emergency, the aircraft would be parked far outside
In that case, the plane would be parked far out on the apron and experts from the airport clinic would go on board. The patient would be marked with a red dot and taken with a special vehicle directly to the special isolation ward of the university hospital. The „Station 68“ at Uni-Klinikum is highly contagious, life-threatening sufferers reserved. So far, it has only been used twice. Three rooms of the normal infection station are then separated with lock doors. Senior physician Timo Wolf explained that the rooms are under pressure and the doctors in protective suits treat them with over-pressure. „This is extremely labor intensive.“ The medical staff that would then be deployed would „regardless of the Ebola problem“ regularly trained. „We are always ready to provide such a case adequately.“ A remedy for Ebola does not exist so far, physicians would usually have to limit themselves to alleviate complaints. But the message: „Vaccine against Ebola virus should work“ makes hope. According to a vaccine from the United States, which has achieved positive results in animal experiments, will soon be tested on humans.

German helpers could easily be brought back
Give it a yellow dot for the passengers directly around the Ebola patient. They may be quarantined. The other passengers, who would be marked in green, would receive information material and should go home. In order to get people to different rooms on the airport grounds, yellow and green buses were waiting on the apron. According to Gottschalk, it would be „no problem“, to retrieve a German doctor or development worker infected with Ebola via Frankfurt into the home country. In such a case, the patient would not be brought by a line machine, but by a special aircraft. From there, he would switch directly to a special vehicle and drive to the university hospital without getting in touch with anyone. (Ad)