There are growing calls in the United States to limit travel to the country from the regions in West Africa hardest hit by Ebola after a second Texas healthcare worker was infected with the deadly disease, the LA Times reports. Over a dozen African countries have imposed restrictions or bans on visitors from Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia to enter – and the US should join them, as many voices say.
House Speaker John A. Boehner is the latest in the row of people to urge President Barack Obama to consider at least a temporary interdiction of the travelers coming from the Ebola-ridden West African countries to the United States. Other lawmakers have also urged the US to stop issuing visas to people coming from these countries. Public health officials don’t agree, though – a further restriction to travel could, in their opinion, have exactly the opposite effect they intended. On one hand restricting travel could mean fewer flights and longer delays, making it hard to send medical supplies and personnel to the most affected areas – a key to stopping the disease at its roots. On the other hand, such restrictions could make Ebola victims hide, making it next to impossible to locate and isolate them before they could spread the disease. Also, such a measure would provide a false sense of security in the US.
“There are no shortcuts in the control of Ebola. To protect the United States we need to stop it at its source.”
Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Ebola is a disease with no proven treatment or vaccine, and is spread through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected individuals already showing its symptoms. The only solution at hand is to isolate the infected patients, find everyone they had direct contact with and monitor them for the appearance of symptoms. This approach has proven to be helpful in previous Ebola outbreaks.
Four more US airports have began screening the passengers arriving from the affected countries this Thursday. When leaving Liberia, Guinea or Sierra Leone, passengers are required to pass a screening as well – their temperature is taken, and they have to complete a questionnaire before boarding the plane. This procedure has already stopped 77 people from leaving the country – these passengers had symptoms that could be associated with Ebola, but none of them so far have proven to be infected with the disease.