Fear Of Ebola Weighs On Air Passengers

Frankfurt airport is a transportation hub with thousands of people crossing paths there. Many carry a fear of the Ebola virus with them. Experts, however, say they have no reason to be afraid.

"It is a funny feeling, to see so many people walking around here and not knowing where they come from," said an elderly woman standing next to her husband and their suitcases at Frankfurt Airport.



"Ebola is closer than you think," said a concerned mother. "I would say yes, I am afraid."



More than 150,000 passengers take off and land at Frankfurt airport every day. It's not just a crossroads for people but also for infectious diseases. A study by the Max Planck Institute for Informatics, which analyzed worldwide flight connections and direct flights at international airports found that Frankfurt airport offers the best conditions for spreading many types of infections. Ebola, however, is not among them, said Bertram Somieski, spokesman for the Max Planck Institue in Saarbrücken. He said Germany's major airports play only a minor role in the flow of travel out of West Africa.



Is Ebola coming along for the ride?



The fact that Ebola is not an airborne disease means that the likelihood of it spreading at an airport is not very high. Ebola cannot be transmitted just by passing by an infected person, said Dr. Jürgen Rissland, virologist at the University Clinic in Homburg. The risk of infection in an airplane is also very low, he added. A passenger would have to come into direct contact with an infected person's bodily fluids, such as blood or vomit, at the very time when the first Ebola symptoms become apparent, Rissland said.



The potential risk of infection is not worrying the officials in charge of Frankfurt airport, unlike in Canada, London, or New York. Officials there have introduced Ebola screenings at international airports in order to prevent the spread of the virus. Staff take the temperature of passengers arriving from Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia. Passengers arriving via West Africa are asked about their route and any people they may have had contact with.



Slim chance of recognizing a suspicious case



One man has changed the way people feel about the risk of infection: Thomas Eric Duncan. He died of Ebola in the United States on October 8. He contracted the virus in Liberia and carried it undetected into a country that supposedly has one of the best epidemic prevention systems in the world. Ebola has an incubation period of three weeks. Theoretically, an infected person could travel to Europe and only fall ill later.



At Germany's biggest airport, however, there is no risk of infection, according to Stefan Grüttner, health minister for the state of Hesse. He told German news broadcaster Phoenix that there is no reason to introduce fever testing of passengers in Frankfurt. "Fever can be an indication of many different illnesses from the common cold to an infectious disease. For Ebola, the symptoms are decisive, not the temperature."



The SARS epidemic showed that the chances of diagnosing suspicious cases using fever testing are very low, according to a report from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). Somieski also advised against introducing such screening at Frankfurt airport at the moment. "We should not create tensions where there is little danger," he said.



Deeply rooted fear



France and the Czech Republic have plans to impose stricter controls on air passengers from the crisis zone. French President François Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister David Cameron, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, and US President Barack Obama have discussed the problem in a video conference.



EU health ministers also conferred on Thursday to decide on further measures to combat Ebola going forward, including at Europe's airports. One key measure is creating greater awareness among passengers and airline crews by providing them with the necessary information. But ever since the case of Thomas Eric Duncan, fear has also taken hold in Europe.