Lotz Eric, Raffin Hervé
Medic'Air International, 35 rue Jules Ferry, 93170 Bagnolet, France.
Aviat Space Environ Med. 2012 May;83(5):527-30. doi: 10.3357/asem.3094.2012.
Lassa fever is a viral hemorrhagic fever only present in West Africa. The mortality rate is 1% and may reach 15% among hospitalized patients. Transmission between humans is mostly due to direct contact with infected body fluids. Aeromedical evacuation of patients with viral hemorrhagic fevers (such as Lassa fever) demands strict isolation measures. Only a few cases of such evacuations have been reported in the literature during the last 40 yr. The use of an aircraft transit isolator device could be helpful.
We report the aeromedical evacuation of a confirmed Lassa fever patient from Sierra Leone to Sweden with a dedicated air ambulance using an aircraft transit isolator. The patient was a 30-yr-old physician working for a nonprofit organization. The patient contracted the disease working with infected hospitalized patients. The duration of the mission between activation and arrival at the Swedish hospital was 36 h, which is within the World Health Organization recommendations.
Evacuation of patients with potentially lethal contagious infections is possible, but only with strict isolation measures. Specific protective equipment and isolator are mandatory. Medical and technical crews performing such evacuations should be trained in proper equipment use and the isolator should first be used with a low-risk patient to create minimal risk transport conditions.
拉沙热是一种仅在西非出现的病毒性出血热。死亡率为1%，在住院患者中可能达到15%。人与人之间的传播主要是由于直接接触受感染的体液。对病毒性出血热患者（如拉沙热）进行空中医疗后送需要严格的隔离措施。在过去40年里，文献中仅报道了少数此类后送病例。使用飞机转运隔离装置可能会有所帮助。
我们报告了一例确诊的拉沙热患者从塞拉利昂通过专用空中救护车并使用飞机转运隔离器被空运至瑞典的情况。患者是一名为非营利组织工作的30岁医生。该患者在与受感染的住院患者接触时感染了这种疾病。从启动任务到抵达瑞典医院的任务时长为36小时，这在世界卫生组织的建议范围内。
对患有潜在致命传染性感染的患者进行后送是可行的，但前提是要有严格的隔离措施。特定的防护设备和隔离器是必需的。执行此类后送任务的医护和技术人员应接受正确使用设备的培训，并且隔离器应首先用于低风险患者，以创造风险最小的转运条件。
