Monitoring of returnees from Ebola-affected areas: Lessons learned based on the experience of French armed forces deployed in Guinea, 2015

Abstract

Introduction During the 2014-15 Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in West Africa, French armed forces were involved in the treatment and management of Ebola patients in Guinea. The constant flow of military personnel returning from their deployment posed a risk of secondary dissemination of the Ebola virus. Our objective was to describe the follow-up of returning service members that was implemented to prevent this risk of dissemination in France. Method For the French military, a specific complementary follow-up was added to the national monitoring to take into account the need for a detailed record for follow-up of returning military personnel and to keep the military chain of command informed. Results All the 410 service members deployed in Guinea underwent monitoring among whom 22 were suspected of EVD. Three of them were considered as possible EVD cases but none of them was tested positive for EVD. Conclusion The monitoring organized for French service members deployed in Guinea made it possible to follow all exposed military personnel after their return, know their health status on a near real-time basis and be aware of all alerts. To reach this goal the collaboration with French national health agencies was necessary and should be improved in the future.