International Flights Spread Ebola
July 27th, 2014Via: Irish Independent:
Nigerian health authorities raced to stop the spread of Ebola after a man sick with one of the world’s deadliest diseases brought it by plane to Lagos.
That the traveller from Liberia could board an international flight also raised new fears that other passengers could take the disease beyond Africa due to weak inspection of passengers and the fact Ebola’s symptoms are similar to other diseases.
Officials in Togo, where the sick man’s flight had a stopover, also went on high alert after learning that Ebola could possibly have spread to a fifth country.
Screening people as they enter the country may help slow the spread of the disease, but it is no guarantee Ebola will not travel by aeroplane, according to Dr Lance Plyler, who heads Ebola medical efforts in Liberia for aid organisation Samaritan’s Purse.
“Unfortunately the initial signs of Ebola imitate other diseases, like malaria or typhoid,” he said.
The aid organisation said yesterday that a US doctor working with Ebola patients in Liberia had tested positive for the deadly virus.
It said Dr Kent Brantly was being treated at a hospital in Monrovia, the capital, where he had been serving as medical director for the organisation’s case management centre.
