Content provided by Drs. Hewlett, Ridder and Mowrer. Beginning in 2019, the UNMC ID Fellows have participated in Biopreparedness Training during their 2nd year of fellowship. The ID Fellows learn about emerging infectious diseases and biopreparedness through didactic teaching sessions with internationally-recognized experts in the field, and also participate in specialized PPE training in the Davis Global Center and National Quarantine Unit alongside the Nebraska Biocontainment… Continue Reading
Category: NBU
Although it has not been officially declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO), as of this morning, there were 81, 191 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 2,768 deaths worldwide. To date, 57 of these cases are within US borders, and there are increasing cases throughout the world. UNMC & Nebraska Medicine have had our quarantine and biocontainment units active and caring for patients… Continue Reading
Dr. Angela Hewlett, Medical Director of the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit, recently co-authored an article that appeared in the AMA Journal of Ethics entitled; “How Should Clinicians Respond to International Public Health Emergencies?” Dr. Hewlett shared a brief summary of the paper below: The paper is a case-based analysis of issues surrounding clinicians who respond to international public health emergencies, including outbreaks of highly hazardous communicable diseases. Issues with… Continue Reading
The UNMC Global Center for Health Security (GCHS) has expanded its capability and national role in quarantine care through the establishment of a 20-bed quarantine unit located within the Davis Global Center for Advanced Inter-professional Learning. The National Quarantine Center, funded in October 2016 by a $20 million dollar award from the Assistant Secretary of Preparedness and Response (ASPR), officially opened on October 1, 2019,… Continue Reading
This month, two concerning stories about the ongoing epidemic of Ebola virus disease (Ebola for short) in Africa grabbed our attention. On Monday, several social media sites circulated posts about Congolese refugees who had crossed the border from Mexico to Texas and tested positive for Ebola. The various posts circulated widely enough that they were picked up by mainstream media outlets, and Texas health officials… Continue Reading
Dr. Angela Hewlett presented ‘Clinical Management of Ebola: The Nebraska Experience’ at Grand Rounds at the University of Wisconsin on Friday April 19th 2019. Dr. Hewlett was invited by Internal Medicine Chief Resident Dr. Samantha Murray-Bainer as part of the University of Wisconsin Dream Speaker series, where each Chief Resident is given the opportunity to select a Grand Rounds speaker that has been influential to… Continue Reading
Several months ago, a five-person team from Nebraska Medicine’s Biocontainment Unit traveled to Western Uganda, where they trained refugee health workers on appropriate infection prevention and control practices. Dr. James Lawler, one of our Infectious Diseases Faculty, was the team leader on this trip. Dr. Lawler is the Director of International Programs and Innovation for the Global Center for Health Security, and Director of Clinical and… Continue Reading
UNMC is a proud to play a critical role in biopreparedness and global health, which also means we have to stay up-to-date on global health, including tuberculosis. In a recent Infectious Diseases journal club, Dr. Lawler presented the following 2018 Lancet article on the global burden of TB. Global, regional, and national burden of tuberculosis, 1990 -2016: results from the Global burden of disease, injury… Continue Reading
The Division of Infectious Diseases is pleased to announce the arrival of our newest Faculty members! Nada Fadul, MD Dr. Fadul will be supporting UNMC’s efforts on various Ryan White awards through the Specialty Care Center, where she will also serve as the Associate Medical Director. In addition, Dr. Fadul will support the General ID and Ortho ID consult services and participate in the clinical,… Continue Reading
It has been said that ‘an outbreak anywhere is a risk everywhere’. At any given time, there are multiple concurrent outbreaks of highly hazardous communicable diseases, and the ease of global travel creates the risk of rapid spread of diseases around the world. The Nebraska Biocontainment Unit (NBU) closely and continuously monitors these outbreaks, since the NBU could be called upon to care for patients… Continue Reading