CDC issues clinical guidance for evaluating travelers from Liberia

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Friday issued an advisory on clinical considerations for health care providers evaluating ill travelers from Liberia to the United States. The advisory recommends that health care providers consider not only Ebola Virus Disease, but also other much more likely infectious diseases such as malaria when evaluating ill travelers from this country. “Signs and symptoms of EVD are non-specific and overlap with many other more prevalent infectious diseases in West Africa,” the advisory notes. “For any patient returning from West Africa and presenting with non-specific signs and symptoms consistent with EVD, providers should use clinical judgment, taking into account the patient’s epidemiological history for management, diagnostic testing, and treatment and coordinate health care as needed with the state or local health department to ensure that these patients get appropriate care without delay.” The World Health Organization last month declared the end of the Ebola outbreak in Liberia.