HHS launches new Portable Biocontainment Unit, Only domestic capability of transporting and treating patients with high-consequence infectious disease  

The Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response today launched a new Portable Biocontainment Unit (PBCU) for high-consequence infectious disease patients during a ribbon cutting ceremony at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Hubert Humphry building. 

Earlier this year the ASPR, part of HHS, completed development of the PBCU. The PBCU is the first domestic resource for isolating and transporting patients with contagious infectious diseases, for example Ebola, to Regional Emerging Special Pathogen Treatment Centers (RESPTC). The unit can be transported by air on a C-130 or L-100 aircraft to any U.S. airport or by ground via specialized trailer that can be pulled by a tractor or semi-truck. This allows for continuous treatment of patients isolated in the unit until they can receive more definitive care at a RESPTC hospital.  

“Preparation and training are critical to improve America’s national security and our ability to respond to highly infectious diseases whether they are detected at home or abroad,” said HHS Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response John Knox. “The portable biocontainment unit will protect patients and the healthcare workers as they move to more definitive care facilities.” 

The department will further test the PBCU in an exercise in June called Tranquil Passport, when more than 50 organizations will participate in a full-scale exercise to move infectious disease patients. The exercise begins with government officials facilitating a series of coordination calls to plan the movement of a cluster of American high-consequence infectious disease patients from Toronto, Canada to the United States.  

The treatment centers that plan to receive patients during the exercise include New York City Health + Hospitals/Bellevue (New York City, NY); Medstar Washington Hospital Center and Children’s National (Washington, D.C.); Johns Hopkins Hospital (Baltimore, MD); Emory University Hospital and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (Atlanta, GA); and University of North Carolina Medical Center (Chapel Hill, NC). These facilities are part of the tiered RESPTC network of HHS-supported health care facilities designed to support prompt access to high quality special pathogen care.  

The participating airports are Toronto Pearson International Airport, Washington Dulles International Airport, LaGuardia Airport, Raleigh-Durham International Airport, and Peachtree Dekalb Airport. 

HHS and the U.S. Departments of State and Defense previously collaborated on a series of exercises to move Americans acting as high-consequence infectious disease patients from overseas to the United States for treatment. A video summary of the most recent infectious disease patient exercise, Tranquil Terminus, is available for review here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LL1BEwy-2DQ.  

For more information about the PBCU and the Tranquil Passport exercise visit: https://aspr.hhs.gov/Tranquil-Passport/.