CDC to issue new guidelines for health workers handling Ebola

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will issue new guidelines for healthcare workers handling Ebola patients as early as Saturday.

The CDC started consulting with the American Nurses Association, American Hospital Association and other groups this week amid scrutiny over current precautions that may not be providing enough protection against the disease.

{mosads}A CDC spokeswoman wouldn’t give details on the coming changes in protocol, the Wall Street Journal reports.

“This is a critical issue, and we want to get it right,” she said.

The nurses associations recommended the CDC require health workers to wear a single, consistent type of personal-protective gear when helping Ebola patients instead of providing them options based on the patients’ condition.

Right now, the CDC tells workers that “all persons entering the patient room should wear at least: gloves, gown (fluid resistant or impermeable), eye protections,  [and] face mask.”