The US government will reveal in coming days how it will boost the screening of airline passengers for Ebola virus.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is considering requiring that passengers arriving from the affected region in West Africa have their temperature taken, among other things, said Thomas Frieden, its director.
Frieden told reporters today that the presidents of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, where the outbreak is centered, are offering to tighten screening of passengers leaving their countries to help ensure those infected with the virus don’t end up on aircraft.
“They’re willing to go through any procedures to make sure it’s safe,” Frieden told reporters today. “In fact, all three of the presidents asked me: ‘What more can we do?’”
The first confirmed Ebola case in the U.S., Liberian Thomas Eric Duncan, arrived in Dallas on Sept. 20 from Brussels. He took two United jets to Dallas, changing planes in Washington, after arriving in the Belgian capital from Monrovia, Liberia. Duncan showed no symptoms of the disease until after he arrived in Dallas.
