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Q Fever Laboratory Exposure and Response
I have an aquantaince who works in a high profile laboratory/pharmaceutical company and amongst other nasties, they deal with high concentrations of Q Fever.
For normal day-to-day operations, all operators working in the area MUST be vaccinated against the virus and they must shower out of the area when exiting, following very strict washing procedures. (I've worked at this facility, but not in this area- it's not uncommon to enter a change room and find an internal auditor watching you disrobe or wash yourself to ensure you follow correct procedures- that's how strict these places are, and need to be...)
Any equipment taken into the area, generally doesn't leave the area or must go through amazing decontamination processes.
The question has arisen in the event of an emergency, how does the on-site ERT respond (getting equipment and casualties in and out of the area) and how should the external emergency services respond.
If for arguments sake, someone is in full blown cardiac arrest, even with a life threatening things such as this, decontamination processes can not be ignored- the biological/biohazard hazards are far too great. The possible infection of responders is too much of an issue.
Here's some info on Q Fever:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q_fever
http://www.abc.net.au/health/library/stories/2003/06/19/1831554.htm
Food for thought? What would you do? How would you handle such a call?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by lutan1 on
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Anyone at all?
We've got a really heart debate about t-shirt worn by firefighters, but here we are with a legitimate and perhaps insightful discussion that we could learn from and not a single response....
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Permalink Reply by Tony P on
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Interesting. Did you have to post it for me to read when I'm displaying flu symptoms? The closest I've been to a herd of animals lately has been a group of 14/15 yo secondary school pupils - should be safe as I stay well back from them!
OK, jokes apart. It would seem to be hard for many of us to know if we were at risk at most incidents, apart from those who operate in a highly rural area. If one was called to a chemical lab that has warnings displayed about any risks, then perhaps it should be treated as a full-blown hazmat incident? I know I wouldn't be keen on entering a chemical lab. The only ones in my area are the possible illicit drugs type, they have problems of their own.
It seems from the links given by you that a person could go through invection thinking that they had a does of the flu. Not something that many go to a doctor for and even going to a doctor would be likely to get a diagnosis of flu, so where would that leave you? Possible after effect symptoms are very similar to Glandular Fever, also fairly common after a bad dose of the flu. So again can leave a person not knowing that they had contracted Q-fever.
Could we request vaccination against Q-fever? Yes, but when a person has to be tested for having had it in the past before being vaccinated? Seems to be as drawn out as getting jabs for Hep B - when Hep C is the dangerous one. Accoding to Wiki, "In 2001, Australia introduced a national Q fever vaccination program for people working in "at risk" occupations." but I haven't heard of that one!
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The "at-risk" occupations include the laboratory I talk about in this post. But the vaccination is about preventing it (like the Hep B immunisations0, not for post exposure treatment.
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Permalink Reply by Norm Tindell on
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The first idea that comes to mind is thoroughly training a team of employees who work inside the restricted area. I noticed you mentioned an ERT. Perhaps some could train to the level of paramedic and emergenecy responder to the extent they could facilitate an evacuation to the exit where public safety personnel could accept the patient, already decontaminated and packaged. That would require a more extensive commitment from the company but would be money very well spent.
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Permalink Reply by Jason Brooks on
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This is really not much different than a biological WMD event, on a much smaller scale though. If they are in cardiac arrest, they will not make it. This is the fact of life. We should not risk saving one life, even this co-worker, and possibly infect a whole lot of others. This is a very tough situation to be in. As far as the ERT goes, they would be very versed in these sort of rescues. This is no different than any other hazmat scene where the overall safety of the majority needs to be the deciding factor. In the labs, safety is the most important thing that will save their own lives. When I was at Dugway, the safety controls are pretty impressive.
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"Perhaps some could train to the level of paramedic " - takes three years university and one year clinical training here, so not really an option I'd say. But training to a decent level in 1st Aid, with specifics for the risk posed working in an industrial lab, that should be done of course. The idea of those in-house people doing de-con is interesting.
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Understood mate, I was thinking really that those who work with such a risk should definitely be vaccinated as it's commonly available. Us and ambos? For the level of risk exposure, could we see that being implemented do you think? Could be a consideration in an area with a large lab site maybe?
For the rest of us? Full Hazmat response I think.
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