Effectiveness of screening for Ebola virus at airports
Authors:
Read, J.M, Diggle, P.J, Chirombo, J, Solomon, T, Baylis, M.
Abstract:
Screening for symptoms of Ebola in airline passengers whose journeys originated from the three most affected countries—Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone—has recently been introduced at some airports.1 Screening can include health declarations, visual inspection, and thermography to detect symptoms. The effectiveness of border screening for other infectious diseases has been analysed before, but its role in prevention of importation of Ebola is unknown.2,3 In their Article,4 Isaac Bogoch and colleagues estimated the efficiency of entry screening for airline passengers, but did not study the effect of the natural history of Ebola and journey duration on screening efficacy.
Journal:
The Lancet
PMID:
25467590
Research Themes:
Clinical Surveillance
EPI Approaches