Romeoville Company Says Device Will Protect Health Workers from Ebola

A Romeoville-based company has launched a device it says can protect health care workers transporting Ebola patients, CBS Chicago reported.

The company, Isovac, said its PIU — patient isolation unit — looks like a transparent sleeping bag, but protects workers from potentially contagious patients.

Isovac CEO Pete Jenkner told CBS that the nearly 30-pound device, which comes with attached gloves, IV pouches and an oxygen unit, would allow workers to safety treat patients on the move.

“Isolation, quarantine and containment — that’s what you have with this unit,” Jenkner said. He also said he believes there should be a PIU in every ambulance, and that they should be stocked at every international airport.

The company last week showed the PIU to members of Congress, Homeland Security and the CDC and is awaiting word on whether it can go into mass production.

Click here to read the full CBS report.

A patient being treated at a Dallas hospital is the first person with a confirmed case of Ebola in the United States. The unidentified man arrived in the U.S. from Liberia on Sept. 20 and developed symptoms several days later, according to CNN.

According to the CDC, the virus can be spread through direct contact with:

• blood or body fluids (including but not limited to urine, saliva, feces, vomit, and semen) of a person who is sick with Ebola
• objects (like needles and syringes) that have been contaminated with the virus
• infected animals
• Ebola is not spread through the air or by water, or in general, food. However, in Africa, Ebola may be spread as a result of handling bushmeat (wild animals hunted for food) and contact with infected bats.

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