High tech biocontainment centre runs 24-hour infectious disease simulation

ABC NEWS (Australia)

With the ever-looming threat of a new disease outbreak, health specialists have been looking at new ways of isolating and treating patients who might be infected. Now in an Australia-first, a high-tech biocontainment centre has been used in a 24-hour simulation of a patient presenting with an illness.

Transcript

00:00A dress rehearsal for a potentially deadly disease outbreak.

00:07This team is working in a pressurised isolation room

00:11and running a first-of-its-kind simulation.

00:14It's a simulation we wanted to do for a long time

00:17but it took a lot of planning and that's why it's taken us a while to get here.

00:21In this scenario, these highly trained doctors and nurses

00:24are caring for a patient who is presented with a rare and high-risk infectious disease.

00:29Over 24 hours, they isolate, test and treat the patient

00:33in what's known as the biocontainment unit at Sydney's Westmead Hospital.

00:38We actually had a real patient who was a volunteer.

00:42They didn't have a high-consequence infectious disease.

00:44They had another infectious disease.

00:47Painstaking steps have been taken to prevent the spread of disease in here.

00:52The protective clothing takes half an hour to put on

00:55and more than 40 steps to safely remove.

00:58The real test for this biocontainment unit will be the next time

01:01Australia faces a disease outbreak.

01:04And the team here is confident this facility will play a crucial role

01:07in dealing with any new contagion.

01:10This is about making sure we're ready, we're prepared, we're well equipped

01:15to take on a virus like Ebola, a high-consequence virus if it hit our shores.

01:20The first 24-hour simulation exercise that we've run was with an adult patient

01:24but we're hoping to do something similar with a paediatric patient in the future.

01:28Ensuring the system is match fit for responding to whatever disease might be around the corner.

01:34And we'll do a few more.

01:35And you'll see the next time, guys.

01:40But if you have any new symptoms, you can see the autopsy of this animal.

01:42You'll see the problem with that.

01:43Yes.

01:44And a few more without history, you'll see the next one.

01:45And the last one was, if you have a major one from the first time,

01:47you'll see what's working on the next one of the next two of the last two of the next two years.

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