Ebola could become airborne, UN warns

The head of the UN’s ebola mission has said aid workers are battling against time to stop the ebola virus from mutating and possibly become airborne.

Anthony Banbury, the Secretary General’s Special Representative, said the nightmare scenario could become reality if the disease was not brought under control swiftly.

“The longer it moves around in human hosts in the virulent melting pot that is West Africa, the more chances increase that it could mutate,” he said. “It is a nightmare scenario, and unlikely, but it can’t be ruled out.”

His comments came as American officials revealed more than 80 people had direct or indirect contact with the first person to be diagnosed with the deadly ebola virus in the US.

Four members of the patient’s family were quarantined as a precaution.

Dallas County officials said 12 to 18 people had direct contact with the Texas patient, and they in turn had contact with scores of others. All were being monitored and none had shown any symptoms.

A top health official urged US hospitals to heed lessons from Dallas, where a hospital initially sent the ailing patient home, despite information that he had recently visited West Africa, potentially exposing more people to the virus.

Texas health officials told four “close” relatives of the patient not to entertain visitors and said they could be arrested if they left their homes without permission. The four did not exhibit symptoms, they said.

“We have tried and true protocols to protect the public and stop the spread of this disease,” said Dr David Lakey, the Texas health commissioner. “This order gives us the ability to monitor the situation in the most meticulous way.”

“The order is in place until the incubation period has passed and the family is no longer at risk of having the disease,” Lakey said.

Public health authorities have been calling on US healthcare workers to screen patients for signs of illness, and to question patients about their travel history in order to rule out ebola for those who have been to West Africa.

The Dallas patient, who had flown from Liberia, initially sought treatment at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital late last Thursday but was sent home with antibiotics, despite telling a nurse he had recently arrived from West Africa. By Sunday, he needed an ambulance to return to the same hospital.

The patient has not been named for privacy reasons. However, Gee Melish, who said he was a family friend, identified the man as Thomas Eric Duncan.

US health officials have said the country’s healthcare system was well prepared to contain the disease’s spread by careful tracking of those who have had contact with the patient.

The case has sparked concern nationwide over the potential for a wider spread of the virus from West Africa, where at least 3,338 people have died in the worst outbreak on record.

While past outbreaks of ebola killed as many as 90% of victims, the current epidemic’s fatality rate has averaged about 50% in West Africa.

Meanwhile, Liberian authorities said yesterday that Duncan will be prosecuted when he returns home for lying on his airport screening questionnaire.

Duncan answered “no” to questions about whether he had cared for an ebola patient or touched the body of someone who had died in an area affected by ebola.

Neighbours say Duncan had days earlier helped carry to a taxi a pregnant woman who later died of ebola. Her illness was believed at the time to be pregnancy-related. At the time Duncan left, it is not clear if he knew of the woman’s diagnosis.

“He will be prosecuted” when he returns to Liberia, said Binyah Kesselly, chairman of the board of directors of the Liberia Airport Authority.