Ebola Gear

[ukpreppergrrl]

The goggles, masks, suits and gloves are disposable. You wear them once and then incinerate. I would suggest thinking about at least having a couple of bowls of bleach at the entrance to your house which you trudge your feet and hands through before removing the items. Or perhaps a garden pump action sprayer containing bleach and spray yourself (remembering to spray the sprayer too!). Then think about how you remove the items without cross-contaminating your clothes underneath, and put them into an incinerator. How to remove contaminated clothing, and the order in which it's done, should be practiced before it's needed. Strangely enough "how to remove contaminated clothing" seems to be a popular google phrase....!

[Lemony]

Thank you, I am googling it as we speak...! We have a large garden spray bottle which we could easily adapt, and I think the removal of contaminated items seems to be easier if there are two of you. I've got a small stash of bleach, but will pick up some more when I can. I do hope we can avoid the need to go out though.

[Jim Mac]

But in addition to all the protective gear - the goggles, gloves, masks etc - wouldn't you also have to have the means to get them sterilised between/after use? I read an article in The Guardian earlier by one of the medical team in Sierra Leone, and she spoke about the decontamination process after contact with infected patients. The nursing teams have to be hosed down with chlorine spray before removing their gear. I realise that someone going out to restock their food supplies is far less likely to be in direct contact with the virus than a medic, but it's the removal of the protective gear afterwards which worries me, and which is where a big risk lies.

This is a concern for me as well. Last thing a person wants to do after having had to venture out of a safe clean haven is to re-enter afterwards with potential contaminants on you, especially foot wear gloves etc. bleach kills most biologicals that's for sure. I'd set aside an area in which you Could safely decontaminate yourself after every visit out of your safe zone.

In regards to sterilisation of items is clothing post wear I'm afraid I don't know. I was always taught to bag and dispose of items as potential hazardous materials after being into a potentially contaminated zone. I would think chlorine or bleach spray externally would kill any biologicals on outer layer , heat treating / boiling of second layer / undergarments should greatly reduce the risk. However I still feel disposal is the safest option

[Malthouse]

I would focus on not having to mix with people, so as others have said food, water and fuel are my highest priority.

I do not see the value of protective gear other than gloves and wrap around glasses, the masks people think of are not going to help much. If I were dealing with a patient then I would have a full face visor (if they were available) and shower/launder immediately after. The virus does not tolerate good old fashioned soap at all well, but the real trick is to avoid touching your own face and cling filming any open cuts until after you have decontaminated.

[Devonian]

If you want some protective gear in case you had to venture out then you need:

Goggles
N95 masks
Disposable gloves
Shoe over covers
Tyvec gown

Nothing personal but I need to correct this for the benefit of others as N95 Respirators and Tyvek Coveralls are not what you need for protection against Ebola.

Firstly N95 Respirators are a US standard and not commonly available in UK other via ebay sellers. N95 means that it filters 95% of the airborne material that you breath, potentially leaving 5% unfiltered!!!

N95 is the equivalent of an FFP2 standard in the UK/EU, but what you actually should be using are FFP3 grade disposable respirators (or P3 filters on a re-usable respirator). Though I would also recommend a full face shield over the top of respirators/googles.

With the coveralls, Tyvek is again not suitable. Tyvek (which is a DuPont trade name) offers Type 5/6 protection and is used for protection against particulates such as asbestos fibres and dusts etc, but it does not offer chemical/liquid protection which is essential for Ebola.

What you need are type 3 coveralls such as Tychem F coveralls (again a DuPont Trade name for comparison). Type 4 coveralls can be used as an alternative to Type 3 coveralls BUT ONLY if the Type 4 coveralls are fully covered with a type 3 apron.

for more information on protection standards, have a look at the following web page and in particular Table 1 on Page 4:

http://www.unicef.org/supply/files/UNIC ... Posted.pdf

However regardless of all of this, the best protection of all is to simply avoid other persons, after all are you really going to go shopping whilst wearing that lot??

[Blue407]

Good link

Are the British army surplus NBC suits of any use against Ebola?

[Malthouse]

I see we agree Devonian

[Devonian]

I see we agree Devonian

Shhhhh, that's the way rumours get started

[Devonian]

Good link

Are the British army surplus NBC suits of any use against Ebola?

To be honest, I do not know what standard the NBC suits are constructed to, but the fact they are called Nuclear Biological Chemical suits should mean that yes they are more than sufficient.

BUT..........

How many NBC suits do you have???

These sorts of items are not normally multi-use, you use them in a contaminated area "once" and then dispose of it.

The health care workers in Sierra Leone are changing their coveralls every 40 minutes, and to "safely" remove the coveralls it takes 2 "TRAINED" people 20 minutes. The reason for the healthcare works in the US being infected is believed to be a result of them not following proper protocols during the removal of coveralls/PPE.

So as before I would almost recommend forgetting about coveralls and concentrate your efforts on being able to segregate yourself away and being self sufficient "IF" an outbreak were to occur in your area.

[external]

If you want some protective gear in case you had to venture out then you need:

Goggles
N95 masks
Disposable gloves
Shoe over covers
Tyvec gown

Nothing personal but I need to correct this for the benefit of others as N95 Respirators and Tyvek Coveralls are not what you need for protection against Ebola.

Firstly N95 Respirators are a US standard and not commonly available in UK other via ebay sellers. N95 means that it filters 95% of the airborne material that you breath, potentially leaving 5% unfiltered!!!

N95 is the equivalent of an FFP2 standard in the UK/EU, but what you actually should be using are FFP3 grade disposable respirators (or P3 filters on a re-usable respirator). Though I would also recommend a full face shield over the top of respirators/googles.

With the coveralls, Tyvek is again not suitable. Tyvek (which is a DuPont trade name) offers Type 5/6 protection and is used for protection against particulates such as asbestos fibres and dusts etc, but it does not offer chemical/liquid protection which is essential for Ebola.

What you need are type 3 coveralls such as Tychem F coveralls (again a DuPont Trade name for comparison). Type 4 coveralls can be used as an alternative to Type 3 coveralls BUT ONLY if the Type 4 coveralls are fully covered with a type 3 apron.

for more information on protection standards, have a look at the following web page and in particular Table 1 on Page 4:

http://www.unicef.org/supply/files/UNIC ... Posted.pdf

However regardless of all of this, the best protection of all is to simply avoid other persons, after all are you really going to go shopping whilst wearing that lot??

I stand corrected, just ordered upgrades as per your suggestion