The State Department unveiled a first-of-its-kind medevac biocontainment system created for highly contagious pathogens.
The public-private system is owned and operated by the State Department to roll on and off planes to help evacuate and securely transport health workers on the front lines fighting Ebola and future epidemics abroad.
The biocontainment unit was displayed, above, aboard a C-17 military transport plane at Dobbins Air Force Base in Marietta, Ga.
The next-generation system designed by MRIGlobal was created with a $5 million dollar private-public partnership grant between Paul G. Allen and the State Department to address the limited access available to extract health workers and provide medical treatment should they fall ill during an epidemic.
The system looks similar to freight containers on the outside, but is built to fit in multiple aircraft to contain highly contagious pathogens and can be quickly mobilized during disease outbreaks anywhere in the world.
A dummy lays on a stretcher in a medevac biocontainment unit aboard a B-17 military transport plane as Dr. Will Walters, Director, Operational Medicine at U.S. Department of State, speaks to guests on a tour at Dobbins Air Force Reserve Base Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2015, in Marietta, Ga. The State Department and partners unveiled the new public-private containerized biocontainment system for highly contagious pathogens Tuesday. The first of their kind units, owned and operated by the U.S. State Department and housed at Dobbins, can roll on and off planes to help evacuate and securely transport health workers on the front lines fighting Ebola and future epidemics abroad. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
An Air Force military member walks out to medevac biocontainment unit aboard a C-17 military transport plane at Dobbins Air Force Reserve Base during a media tour, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2015, in Marietta, Ga. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Guests on a tour take a photo of a medevac biocontainment unit displayed aboard a C-17 military transport plane at Dobbins Air Force Reserve Base, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2015, in Marietta, Ga. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
