A possible smallpox patient is admitted to your facility. What type of precautions should staff use?

• A. Standard precautions
• B. Droplet isolation
• C. Airborne isolation with negative pressure
• D. Contact precautions

Answer: (C)

Smallpox spreads through airborne respiratory particles that can linger in the air, especially during coughing or aerosol-generating procedures. To prevent transmission in a healthcare setting, staff must use airborne precautions, which involve placing the patient in a negative-pressure room to keep contaminated air contained and using respirators capable of filtering airborne particles. Before entering, staff should wear a properly fitted N95 respirator (or higher), eye protection, gown, and gloves, and limit room traffic while following careful infection-control practices. Standard precautions alone won’t prevent inhalation of infectious aerosols, and droplet or contact precautions address different routes of transmission. Therefore, air­borne isolation with negative pressure is the appropriate choice.