SCI/TECH/DEV/MAC.

‘Ebola-proof’ tablet device developed

A tablet device that can withstand being doused in chlorine has been developed to help medics caring for patients with Ebola.

Designed by technology volunteers and Google, it can be used even wearing gloves and in storms and high humidity.

Medecins Sans Frontieres put out a call for an Ebola-proof tablet to help teams record vital patient information.

At the height of the current outbreak, doctors were shouting patient notes across fences to avoid contamination.

High-risk zones

Ebola is passed on through close contact with infected bodily fluids.

Even a single piece of paper leaving a high-risk zone poses a risk of passing on the infection, the charity says.

And health workers caring for these patients have to be encased in full protective suits with goggles and multiple layers of gloves, despite the soaring temperatures.

But dictating notes across a fence at the end of exhausting shifts while wearing masks was a “recipe for error”, MSF said.

To overcome these challenges the group of international tech volunteers came together, including Pim de Witte of Whitespell and Daniel Cunningham at Hack4Good. They were later joined by Google.

Source:BBC

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