The physical isolation of patients like Brantly is straightforward enough.
It is the screening and isolation of patients that draws the most debate.
Preventive isolation of patients with multidrug-resistant microorganisms is considered an effective measure to prevent outbreaks in hospitals.
Another might be modifying community care centres so they can be used for Ebola patients – especially important in providing diagnosis, treatment and isolation of patients whose numbers have surpassed available hospital beds.
But in the past two years, a few hospitals have demonstrated that simple screening and isolation of patients, along with a relentless focus on hygiene, can reduce the number of dangerous infections.
A crucial measure in such control is isolation of patients with contagious respiratory diseases in specially engineered rooms, to prevent dispersal of the SARS virus or any other infectious agent elsewhere.
Indeed, the CDC is dispatching teams to hot spots around the country, hoping to stop the virus after a single reported case, through contact tracing and isolation of patients.
Multi-faceted approaches aimed at improving isolation of patients with MROs, increasing the emphasis on hand hygiene by encouraging greater use of alcohol hand rubs and introducing effective antibiotic stewardship programmes should be encouraged in south-eastern Mediterranean hospitals.
Control measures aimed to reduce the prevalence of healthcare-associated infections include active surveillance cultures (ASCs), contact isolation of patients colonised with epidemiologically significant pathogens, and pre-emptive isolation of high risk patients.
Preemptive isolation of patients on ICU admission was performed in 82% of cases, and mostly in a targeted way (71%).
But, the modelers say, rigorous surveillance, isolation of patients, and aggressive tracing of their contacts can eventually stop the spread.
