Arrival of Ebola spreads alarm among US air crews and passengers
Airlines seek to reassure passengers and crew they are not at great risk from killer virus after false alarms and panic at American airports
The deadly Ebola epidemic is now spreading panic in the US as flight crews are facing increasing numbers of false alarms from worried passengers when people fall ill on board planes.
Crews surrounded an Emirates jet in Boston on Monday after passengers showed flu-like symptoms, three days after a similar rush to isolate a Delta Air Lines plane in Las Vegas.
"If there's any vomiting, we're getting calls about it," said T. J. Doyle, medical director of Pittsburgh-based STAT-MD, a consultancy that serves airlines.
"It's not that we weren't getting these calls before. It's just that there's a heightened sense because of Ebola."
Pilots, flight attendants and passengers are on alert after the infection claimed the life of a Liberian man who had flown to Dallas, Texas and was later diagnosed with the disease.
Pham, a Texas Christian University nursing school graduate, was among about 70 staff members who cared for Duncan.
The number of new cases in West Africa could reach 10,000 by early December, the assistant director-general of the World Health Organisation said.
Bruce Aylward said that during the first week of December 5,000 to 10,000 people would be infected by the virus, mainly in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.
Meanwhile, in Leipzig, Germany, a 56-year-old United Nations worker died of the disease at a hospital despite "intensive medical procedures".
Jitters over Ebola were further underlined last week after an air passenger's joke that he had Ebola sparked an alert on a US Airways flight from Philadelphia to the Dominican Republic.
Footage of the incident showing a Hazmat (hazardous materials) team in blue suits boarding the aircraft went viral on the internet. The male passenger could be heard telling the Hazmat team "I was just kidding" as he was escorted off the aircraft.
Months ago, when Ebola was confined to West Africa, the only flight crews seeking advice were those travelling to or from the affected countries, Doyle said. Now, Ebola was a constant topic. Airlines are working to calm fears, reiterating statements from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention that Ebola isn't airborne and that airline passengers aren't at great risk.
"At this point, travel is strong and there is no reason people should avoid flying," said Gary Kelly, CEO of Southwest Airlines.
At the weekend, US officials began enhanced screening of passengers arriving from Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea at New York's John F. Kennedy airport and will introduce procedures at another four airports.
A week earlier, a United Airlines jet was held on the tarmac at New Jersey's Newark Liberty after a passenger vomited, stirring rumours he had Ebola.
- Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan are donating US$25 million to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention's Ebola response effort in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
