In response to cases of Ebola reported in Guinea and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is funneling airline passengers from those nations to six U.S. airports, according to a news release from the CDC.
While noting that the cases have occurred in remote areas of both Guinea and DRC, the CDC said, “air travel has the potential to transport people, some of whom may have been exposed to a communicable disease, anywhere across the globe in less than 24 hours. Therefore, out of an abundance of caution, the U.S. government will institute public health measures for the very small number of travelers arriving from DRC and Guinea.”
Beginning this week, the CDC said that airlines will collect and transmit to the CDC information for all passengers boarding a flight to the United States who were in Guinea or DRC within the previous 21 days. The CDC said it plans to share information with state and local health departments, so they can “appropriately monitor arrivals in their jurisdiction.”
In mid-February, health authorities in Guinea declared an outbreak of Ebola in the rural community of Gouéké in N’Zerekore prefecture after three Ebola cases were confirmed by the national laboratory. A week before that announcement, DRC said that a new case of Ebola had been detected in Butembo, a city in North Kivu Province.
