Staff at the University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Centers are asking our patients and visitors if they have recently traveled to countries in West Africa affected by the Ebola outbreak. All hospitals and clinics should do this, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), to promptly screen and triage potential patients with Ebola.
While Ebola poses no significant risk in the U.S., these questions from our staff can help protect the community.
If you have traveled in the last 21 days to West Africa and are experiencing a fever or signs and symptoms of flu, seek medical care immediately. Call ahead to your doctor or emergency department and tell them about your recent travel and symptoms.
Advance notice will help the health care team provide care and protect other people who may be in the office or waiting room.
What to Expect
Health care teams, entrance services staff and valet attendants at the Ann Arbor medical campus, emergency departments and community health centers may ask patients and visitors about travel and symptoms.
The CDC encourages all U.S. healthcare providers to:
- Take good travel histories of their patients to identify any who have traveled in the last three weeks to Guinea, Liberia, Mali or Sierra Leonne -- countries in West Africa affected by the Ebola outbreak.
- Know the symptoms of Ebola -- fever, headache, joint and muscle aches, weakness, diarrhea, vomiting, stomach pain and lack of appetite and in some cases bleeding.
Inform staff and ask for a mask immediately if you have symptoms and recent travel to West Africa. Plans are in place to provide care in an isolated area away from other patients.