Ebola seminar for NZ healthcare workers

Dr Stephen McBride gets kitted out in safety gear at the hospital's infections wing that has been set up in case there is an Ebola outbreak. Photo / Dean Purcell

Hundreds of healthcare workers from Auckland and surrounding areas will attend a seminar on the Ebola crisis next week.

Speakers at the seminar on Wednesday include microbiologist Dr Siouxsie Wiles, Auckland medical officer of health Dr Shanika Perera, and clinical microbiologist, Dr Sally Roberts.

Dr Roberts will discuss the technical clinical aspects of Ebola, such as use of personal protective equipment and disinfection.

A university spokeswoman said Dr Roberts was pivotal in helping the Ministry of Health establish its Ebola guidelines for health professionals.

Dr Wiles will discuss non-clinical aspects of Ebola and dispel some of the myths about the virus.

The university said Dr Perera planned to discuss primary care preparedness and what to do if someone is suspected of having Ebola.

Middlemore Hospital has set up bio-containment units in response to the global Ebola scare.

Spokeswoman Lauren Young said the hospital would be able to deploy Australasia's first Bioquell -- a robot resembling a Dalek that released gas to destroy Ebola in "areas where human beings couldn't possibly clean."

Ms Young said Middlemore was among the first hospitals to buy a Bioquell. "We've had that for five months so we're well ahead of the Americans. They've only just got theirs."

Infectious disease specialists and volunteers would staff the units.

There were two units, each with two beds.

The Ministry of Health's risk assessment currently indicated it was extremely unlikely a confirmed case of Ebola would be identified in New Zealand.

"If a suspected case were to present in New Zealand, given the location, population and frequency of international flight arrivals it is most likely that they would present in Auckland, Wellington or Christchurch," the Ministry said in its guidelines, updated five days ago.

Customs officers were asking travellers arriving in New Zealand about places they had visited in the past 30 days.

If they were found to have visited Ebola-affected West African countries (including Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo) they were asked further questions to determine the level of risk.

Customs was expected to remove Nigeria from that list shortly.

Today, the World Health Organisation declared Nigeria Ebola-free, after the country went 42 days without a new infection.

In Dallas, Texas, 43 people who had direct or indirect contact with a Liberian man who died there of Ebola were declared Ebola-free today, the New York Times reported.

However, 120 other people were still being monitored, Associated Press reported.

The Ebola seminar, open to health care workers only, will be held on October 29 at 6:30 for 7pm at the University of Auckland's Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences building, 85 Park Road, Grafton.