'Ebola-Proof' Tablet Device Developed

A tablet device that can withstand being doused in chlorine has been
developed to help medics caring for patients with Ebola. BBC reports.

Designed by technology volunteers and Google, it can be used even
wearing gloves and in storms and high humidity. Medecins Sans
Frontieres put out a call for an Ebola-proof tablet to help teams
record vital patient information. At the height of the current
outbreak, doctors were shouting patient notes across fences to avoid
contamination.

Ebola is passed on through close contact with infected bodily fluids.
Even a single piece of paper leaving a high-risk zone poses a risk of
passing on the infection, the charity says. And health workers caring
for these patients have to be encased in full protective suits with
goggles and multiple layers of gloves, despite the soaring
temperatures.

But dictating notes across a fence at the end of exhausting shifts
while wearing masks was a "recipe for error", MSF said.

To overcome these challenges the group of international tech
volunteers came together, including Pim de Witte of Whitespell and
Daniel Cunningham at Hack4Good. They were later joined by Google.