[Hospital emergency plan for the management of patients with highly contagious diseases].

Patients with imported highly contagious diseases like viral hemorrhagic fever (VHF), pneumonic plague or anthrax require special preventive measures and strict isolation. In addition, new emerging infections like severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and epidemic influenza also have to be taken into account. At present five high security infectious disease units for patient care are available in Germany. Due to the relatively nonspecific symptoms, a patient with one of these infections may also be admitted to any other hospital. Therefore each hospital should develop a concept for the management and control of these lifethreatening highly contagious diseases. The present article describes the current emergency plan developed for the management of patients with highly contagious diseases at Hannover Medical School. © Steinkopff-Verlag 2007.