Nutritional care for patients with ebola virus disease

Abstract

During the Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak of 2014-2016 in West Africa, practitioners faced challenges providing nutritional care for patients in Ebola treatment units (ETUs). The current EVD outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo demonstrates the need to understand lessons learned from previous outbreaks and to update nutritional guidelines. We conducted a literature review to identify articles that included nutrition as an integral part of supportive care. We found little information on the specific nutritional care or practical challenges within an ETU. This review showed that nutritional care for EVD patients is poorly described, and therefore the optimal composition and implementation of nutritional care remain unknown. We recommend that researchers and practitioners share specific and practical details of their experiences in providing nutritional support within ETUs to expand the knowledge base and ultimately improve the nutritional care for an increasingly prevalent patient population.