Ebola Screening Is Easy To Cheat - Experts
Health experts raised alert over how people infected with Ebola can get "clean" while passing through airport screenings, with a lie and a lot of ibuprofen.
Reuters urged the officials to do more to identify the infected travelers.
According to the US-based infection control specialist Sean Kaufman, Ebola screening kits do not ensure accurate results and run low.
He said that people can cheat the system using simply ibuprofen and explained why they might do it.
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"And people can take ibuprofen to reduce their fever enough to pass screening, and why wouldn't they? If it will get them on a plane so they can come to the United States and get effective treatment after they're exposed to Ebola, wouldn't you do that to save your life?"
* Ibuprofen is a popular in the US and easily-obtained nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug used primarily for fever and inflammatory diseases.
This comes after the first case of Ebola had been recorded in the United States on Thursday. The Texas man identified as Thomas Eric Duncan lied on a questionnaire at the Monrovia airport, Liberia, about his exposure to an Ebola patient.
The man showed no symptoms of the disease and fever scans there had shown a normal body temperature. He started developing symptoms already in the United States.
The situation underscored how much US authorities rely on their counterparts in West African countries to screen passengers and contain the epidemic; actually the part of the screening burden rests on connecting airports.
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Kaufman flew from Monrovia to Casablanca to London to Atlanta and was screened in the first two airports, but not in London and Atlanta. The expert lamented:
"At Heathrow, there were no questions about where I had come from. I offered the information to the official in Atlanta, and he said, 'Thank you. Be safe.'"
The medical worker of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Tai Chen said that currently the process of Ebola patients detection relies on an honor system, with trained airport personnel asking about exposure to Ebola in the previous 21 days and any symptoms including fever, severe headache, bleeding, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain.
In terms of a stricter measures to be taken in connection with the disease spread, CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden said that it could make the Ebola outbreak harder to contain.
"The approach of isolating a country is going to make it harder to get help into that country."
The worst Ebola outbreak in the disease history has claimed nearly 3,500 lives in West Africa. The countries affected most are Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone. Nigeria managed to get rid of the virus before the figures surged dramatically. However 7 people unfortunately lost their lives. Because of the location Nigeria remains in danger of having the virus imported again into the country.
Source: Legit.ng
