Man in U.S. With Ebola Had Been Screened to Fly, but System Is Spotty

[MineralMan]

2. The reality is that there are no measures to prevent someone

exposed to Ebola and not exhibiting symptoms from traveling. All such measures rely on the person to say whether they have been exposed and a simple symptom check. As long as a disease is endemic or epidemic in the area, there is a risk of someone leaving and taking that disease with them.

The only real measure that might work would be a ban on travel from such places. And that ban would have to be international in scope, since people may not travel directly to the US. It's doubtful that any such quarantine measure will be implemented internationally, so we must remain watchful for people who develop symptoms after arriving in the US.

Still, there is no reason for panic. There is only reason for caution at this point. Some people will develop symptomatic Ebola after arriving here. Now that one has, detection and isolation measures will become more and more effective and used by all health care providers. That one case will trigger serious concern and more care will be taken. There will not be any developing pockets of infection here, because care will be taken. Anyone who actually contracts Ebola will be noticed, since the symptoms are so severe, and an epidemic of the disease in the US will be prevented.

Should people be concerned? Sure, if they work in health care or travel frequently where infected, symptomatic passengers might be present. Otherwise, no, people really don't need to be concerned very much. They should, however, get their influenza vaccinations, since that illness is sure to kill thousands of people in the US in 2014. It does every year.

We worry about things that are extremely unlikely and ignore things that are very likely.