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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Marieke Emonts-le ClercqORCiD, Dr Stephen Owens, Dr Brendan PayneORCiD, Dr Matthias Schmid, Dr Rohit Sinha
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Infectious Diseases physicians in England have been diagnosing and managing occasional cases of viral haemorrhagic fever (VHF) since 1971, including the UK’s first case of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in 1976. Specialist isolation facilities to provide safe and effective care have been present since that time. The 2013-2016 west Africa EVD epidemics, and the emergence of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) in 2012 and avian influenza A(H7N9) in 2013, led to strengthening of clinical and public health preparedness and response pathways for these types of diseases, now called High Consequence Infectious Diseases (HCIDs). The HCID Programme, led by NHS England and Public Health England between 2016 and 2018, helped to deliver these enhancements, which have been utilised on multiple occasions subsequently for new UK cases and outbreaks of mpox, avian influenza, and Lassa fever. Additionally, HCID pathways were activated for COVID-19 during the first three months of 2020, before the pandemic had been declared, while little was known about COVID-19 and HCID status had been assigned temporarily to COVID-19 as a precaution. The HCID Programme also led to the commissioning of a network of new Airborne HCID Treatment Centres in England, to supplement the existing network of Contact HCID Treatment Centres, which includes the UK’s two High Level Isolation Units. In this narrative review we describe the formation and structures of the Airborne- and Contact HCID Networks in England, their approach to safe and effective clinical management of patients with HCIDs in the UK, and the challenges they may face going forward.
Author(s): Alonso A, Cohen J, Cole J, Emonts M, Karunaharan N, Meadows C, O'Hara G, Owens S, Payne B, Porter D, Ratcliffe L, Riordan A, Schmid ML, Sinha R, Tunbridge A, Whittaker L, NHS England Airborne- and Contact-HCID Networks, Beadsworth M, Dunning J
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Health Security
Year: 2024
Volume: 22
Issue: Supp.1
Pages: S50-S65
Print publication date: 01/09/2024
Online publication date: 11/09/2024
Acceptance date: 18/03/2024
Date deposited: 23/05/2024
ISSN (print): 2326-5094
ISSN (electronic): 2326-5108
Publisher: Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. Publishers
URL: https://doi.org/10.1089/hs.2023.0167
DOI: 10.1089/hs.2023.0167
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