Ebola Health Care Workers Need to Double Glove

Although we are not participating in the care of those stricken with Ebola, we are watching with alarm multiple news stories showing healthcare workers wearing only one pair of usually ill-fitting non-sterile gloves touching infected patients.
This should never be done when trying to protect from exposure to bodily fluids. Numerous published studies have shown that medical gloves even without a noticeable break or tear have about an 8% rate of loss of integrity, thus providing a route for fluids to reach the wearer’s skin.
Please also see Can Gingko and Turmeric Help Stop Ebola?
In fact, news video of Dr. Brantly when he was working as an Ebola health care worker shows him wearing only a single pair of gloves. He has stated that he is not aware of how his exposure happened. It is certainly possible that “microscopic break” in the setting of touching an Ebola patient would likely be a sufficiently large opening to transmit the virus.
Every surgeon has stories of seeing blood on their hands when removing a pair single gloves after a procedure.
In addition, ill-fitting gloves are prone to snagging and tearing if they are caught on the edge of equipment.
One complaint about wearing double gloves is that it causes numbness in the hands after several minutes. This can be counteracted by cutting off the cuffs of the top layer of gloves at the level that the cuff of the surgical gown reaches to.
When surgeons double-glove, they typically wear the under pair of glove...

Source: Inside Surgery - August 2, 2014 Category: Surgery Authors: Editor Tags: Infectious Disease Ebola healthcare workers prevention protection Source Type: blogs