precaution

Hospitalized smear-positive patients could be released from airborne precautions (for which room charges typically are higher than for regular rooms), based on a negative NAA result (provided that the sample contains no inhibitory substances), rather than waiting for 3 consecutive negative AFB smears, as is the current CDC recommendation.

Transmission-Based Precautions, which include Airborne Precautions, Droplet Precautions and Contact Precautions, are for patients with documented or suspected contagious pathogens.

Droplet precautions should be added to standard precautions when providing care to patients with symptoms of acute respiratory infection; contact precautions and eye protection should be added when caring for probable or confirmed cases of MERS; airborne precautions should be applied when performing aerosol generating procedures.

We are all capable of overcoming these pathogens using simple standard, contact, and airborne precautions including hand hygiene and surface disinfection.

Lassa fever was considered in the differential diagnosis; contact precautions and, subsequently, airborne precautions were taken.

Droplet precautions should be added to the standard precautions when providing care to patients with symptoms of acute respiratory infection; contact precautions and eye protection should be added when caring for probable or confirmed cases of MERS-CoV infection, while airborne precautions should be applied when performing aerosol generating procedures.