Efforts to contain the worst ever outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus disease (EVD) have been stepped up – with airports now at the centre of the latest move to stop the virus spreading internationally.

 

Yesterday, the United Nations World Health Organization called for affected countries to conduct exit screening of all persons at international airports, seaports and major land crossings “for unexplained febrile illness consistent with potential Ebola infection”.

 

In a statement, WHO says: “Any person with an illness consistent with EVD should not be allowed to travel unless the travel is part of an appropriate medical evacuation.”

 

The organisation did not state which ‘affected’ countries needed to introduce the measures. It is believed the current outbreak began in Guinea in December 2013 and has since spread to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria.

 

At Kenya’s Jomo Kenyatta Airport, passengers on airlines flying to West Africa and transiting through the east African hub will have their passengers screened. Kenya Airways has already stopped flying to Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia and other airlines are taking similar measures.

 

The latest to announce a ban is Gambia Bird Airlines which has temporarily suspended flights to and from Monrovia, in Liberia, and to and from Freetown, in Sierra Leone, from last Friday until 31 August.

 

RECOMMENDATIONS TO NON-AFFECTED COUNTRIES

WHO says that non-affected countries now need to strengthen their capacity to detect and contain new cases, while avoiding measures that will create unnecessary interference with international travel or trade.

 

It says, however, that travel restrictions and active screening of passengers on arrival at sea ports, airports or ground crossings in non-affected countries that do not share borders with affected countries are not currently required.

 

The UN agency reiterated that it does not recommend any ban on international travel or trade, in accordance with advice from the WHO Ebola Emergency Committee.

 

In trying to dampen public fear and panic at the situation, WHO states that “the risk of transmission of Ebola virus disease during air travel is low”. Unlike infections such as influenza or tuberculosis, Ebola is not spread by breathing air (and the airborne particles it contains) from an infected person, it says.

 

Transmission requires direct contact with blood, secretions, organs or other body fluids of infected living or dead persons or animals – all unlikely exposures for the average traveller, according to the organisation.

 

‘UNDER-ESTIMATED’

Last week the UN agency admitted that its own staff at high-risk sites had seen evidence that “the numbers of reported cases and deaths vastly underestimate the magnitude of the outbreak”.

 

The most recent statistics compiled by WHO show that the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa continues to escalate, with 1,975 cases and 1,069 deaths reported from Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone.