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The Aeromedical Biological Containment System (ABCS) is an aeromedical evacuation capability devised by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and government contractor Phoenix Air between 2007 and 2010. Its purpose is to safely air-transport a highly contagious patient; it comprises a transit isolator (a tent-like plastic structure provided with negative air pressure to prevent escape of airborne-contagious pathogens) and an appropriately configured supporting aircraft. Originally developed to support CDC staff who might become infected while investigating avian flu and SARS in East Asia, it was never used until the 2014 Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa, transporting five Ebola patients out of West Africa. ==History== The CDC experienced difficulties and embarrassment relating to safe patient air-transport during an international tuberculosis scare in 2007.〔Park, Alice. ("The TB Scare: A Broken System?" ) ''Time''. May 31, 2007.〕 Additionally, the memory of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic of 2003-2004 and the then-current avian influenza threat (both potentially requiring transport of sick patients back to the U.S. from the Far East) prompted CDC officials to initiate the program that became the ABCS. The Cartersville, Georgia-based military airlift provider Phoenix Air was contracted; the CDC provided medical expertise to the collaboration, while the DoD provided some of the protective technology 〔(Trautvetter, Chad, "Aeromed GIII Flies American Ebola Patients Back to U.S.," AIN Online, August 5, 2014, 3:18 PM. )〕 through its Edgewood Chemical Biological Center.〔ECBC Public Affairs (16 March 2015), ("ECBC Engineers Played Key Role in Containment System used to Transport Americans with Ebola" )〕 With the anticipated decommissioning of the U.S. Army’s Aeromedical Isolation Team (AIT) in December 2010, the need for a new system to support transport of highly contagious patients became even more urgent. By that time, the ABCS had been extensively tested and was certified for its mission by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The U.S. Air Force had also approved it for ferrying military personnel. The dedicated air platform for the ABCS was a 32-year-old Gulfstream III jet that had once been owned and operated by the Royal Danish Air Force as military tailcode “F-313”.〔(Rogoway, Tyler, "This Amazing Jet Will Transport Ebola Victims From Africa To The U.S.," foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com, August 1, 2014, 8:07 a.m. )〕 (F-313 had been sold to Phoenix Air in January 2005. Rechristened as air ambulance jet “N173PA”, it was utilized in support of the 2007 TB incident.) The international swine flu pandemic of 2009-10 did not occasion the need for air-transport under isolation of any CDC personnel. Consequently, the ABCS—which comprised three isolation units (but only one aircraft) by late-2011—was to some extent mothballed. That changed abruptly in late-July 2014 when Phoenix Air was asked if they could support a patient with a “bloodborne pathogen” (namely Ebola virus) as well as it could an “airborne pathogen” (such as TB or flu, for which it had been designed).〔(Roos, Robert, "Very few aircraft equipped to evacuate Ebola patients," Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), September 16, 2014. )〕 Physicians from Phoenix, along with CDC experts, spent a day and a half reviewing the system, after which they all agreed it was suitable for Ebola patients. "In fact, it's probably over-engineered for Ebola, because it's designed for airborne pathogens," the Phoenix director stated. On 2 August 2014, the ABCS carried the first Ebola patient (Dr. Kent Brantly, an employee of Samaritan's Purse) ever to be evacuated to the United States; three days later, it transported another, Nancy Writebol. To date, Phoenix Air and the ABCS have flown five Ebola patients out of West Africa (four Americans—Brantly, Writebol, Dr Rick Sacra, and an unidentified American on September 9 -- and a German doctor from Sierra Leone to Hamburg, Germany).〔(Hicks, Josh, "The whole world relies on this one U.S. company to fly Ebola patients," washingtonpost.com, October 28, 2014. )〕 After the first two missions, Phoenix Air—which says it considered them successful "proof-of-concept flights"—decided that it would only undertake future missions under the aegis of the U.S. government. Challenges such as dealing with U.S. customs officials, obtaining permission to transit foreign airspace, and the selection of specific destination medical centers had become too onerous. Since then, the U.S. Department of State has coordinated all such flights, including those for foreigners returning to their own countries. U.S. taxpayers pick up the tab for official government patients, but reimbursement is required for all others. (Brantly and Writebol each cost about $200,000, including the cost of equipment decontamination, which their organization paid.) Phoenix Air currently keeps only one plane on standby for transporting Ebola victims. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Aeromedical Biological Containment System」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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