UN Urges Exit Screening for Ebola at Some Airports

UN Urges Exit Screening for Ebola at Some Airports

This post is also available in: heעברית (Hebrew)

Illustration
Illustration

Ebola-affected countries should immediately begin exit screening all passengers leaving international airports, sea ports and major ground crossings, the U.N. health agency said.

The agency didn’t spell out which countries should start screening passengers, but noted in the recommendation made Monday that the Ebola outbreak involves transmission in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leona and a “small number of people in Nigeria,” according to ABC News.

All countries, even those unaffected by the outbreak in West Africa, need to strengthen their ability to detect and immediately contain new cases without doing anything that unnecessarily interferes with international travel or trade, the agency said. But countries don’t need to impose travel restrictions and active screening of passengers if they do not share borders with Ebola-affected countries, it said.

Authorities in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea say they are already closely inspecting departing passengers for signs of fever or illness.

The risk of the Ebola virus being transmitted during air travel is low because unlike infections such as influenza or tuberculosis, it is not spread by breathing air and airborne particles from an infected person.

iHLS Israel Homeland Security

Nonetheless, the World Health Organization said anyone with an illness consistent with the virus should not be allowed to travel normally and all passengers should routinely wash their hands and avoid direct contact with body fluids of infected people.

The only way to contain the disease, for which there is no licensed treatment, is by isolating the sick and closely watching for signs of infection in those they have come into contact with. A person usually has no symptoms for two to 21 days, but after the incubation period the symptoms include fever, weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat, according to WHO. Then comes vomiting, diarrhea, rash, and in some cases, bleeding.

Some countries have banned direct flights to states hit by the disease. British Airways, Kenya Airways and a number of regional carriers have also canceled flights to the capitals of Sierra Leone and Liberia despite the WHO’s recommendation that no travel or trade bans be put in place.

A task force to monitor the impact of the Ebola virus on travel and transport has been launched by the U.N. health agency along with the International Civil Aviation Organization, the World Tourism Organization, the Airports Council International, the International Air Transport Association and the World Travel and Tourism Council.