Health risks among emergency medical rescue staff against major infectious disease epidemic – a review

Medical rescue staff are main force in responses to major infectious disease epidemics. Medical staff could expose to a variety of physical and mental health risks during and after emergency medical rescue practices. These health risks might affect seriously not only the medical rescue, but also their daily lives and work even after the end of a rescue response. In this study, we summarize physical and mental health risks during and after emergency rescue practices faced by emergency medical rescuers in responses to major infectious disease epidemics for providing evidences to the development of targeted measures to intervene physical and mental health problems of emergency medical rescue staff and the promotion of emergency medical team construction in China.