August 18, 2014
By John Heilprin
By John Heilprin
GENEVA — Ebola-affected countries (click here) should immediately begin exit screening all passengers leaving international airports, sea ports and major ground crossings, the U.N. health agency said on Monday.
The agency didn't spell out which countries should start screening passengers, but noted that the Ebola outbreak involves transmission in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leona and a "small number of people in Nigeria."
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....
