Texans Children's Hospital announced Dec. 4 plans to build a special isolation unit at its West Campus along I-10 in Katy. The eight-bed unit will be specifically for children with highly contagious infectious diseases, such as Ebola, pandemic influenza, enterovirus D68 and others, officials said.

"We will build a state-of-the-art isolation unit designed and staffed to provide the highest quality care and treatment for infants and children with serious or life-threatening infectious diseases of public health significance, always with the greatest possible margin of safety," said Dr. Mark K Kline, physician-in-chief at Texas Children's and chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine. "We believe this will be an indispensable resource to our local community, Texas and the nation."

Only four patient biocontainment units equipped and staffed to care for patients with contagious infectious diseases exist in the entire country, hospital officials said.

This isolation unit at Texas Children's will incorporate the latest scientific and technological approaches to biocontainment, including negative air pressure, laminar airflow, high-efficiency particulate air filtration, separate ventilation, anterooms, biosafety cabinets, a point-of-care laboratory, special security access, autoclaves and incinerators, officials said.

There will be two levels of protection from airborne particles, as well as a comprehensive waste management plan, among other safety features.

A point-of-care Biosafety Level 3 laboratory will enable the care team to monitor the progress of patients and perform rapid detection methods to identify unusual pathogens, officials said.

The specialized unit will be led byDr. Gordon Schutze, who will serve as medical director, as well as Dr. Judith Campbell and Dr. Amy Arrington, who will be the unit's associate medical directors. It will be staffed by an team of experienced critical care and infectious disease nurses and physicians, all of whom will have successfully completed an intensive advanced certification course and practicum in infection control, hospital epidemiology and management of infectious diseases in the critical care setting, officials said.

"We are working with the CDC to design, build, equip and staff this unit," Kline said.

The new unit will be operational within nine months and cost approximately $16 million to build.

Battling Ebola

Since the summer, Texas Children's has been implementing a detailed plan to identify, isolate and treat suspected cases of Ebola, if necessary, officials said. As a result, following a visit from the Centers for Disease Control, the State of Texas designated Texas Children's as a pediatric Ebola treatment center.

As part of the hospital's preparation, officials said, specific protocols were developed outlining steps staff would take if and when a patient with Ebola symptoms arrived at a Texas Children's facility. Additionally, in order to decrease the risk of exposure and provide the complex care required, the hospital identified specific areas and units responsible for caring for any patient with Ebola. The health care workers in those areas have received intense, ongoing training and simulation to help them prepare, officials said.

"We are honored to partner with the State of Texas to provide the highest quality care to infants and children with Ebola and other highly contagious infectious diseases," Kline said. "Texas Children's Hospital specializes in the medical care and treatment of infants and children with the most complex and serious health problems. The challenge of serious infectious diseases is one we accept and confront willingly."