A non-profit organization has developed global maps using airline flight route data to calculate and predict the potential arrival of Ebola hemorrhagic fever virus from infected travellers in West Africa.
The EcoHealth Alliance has collected data from flight schedules from infected countries Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Nigerian, along with data from Morocco, and Ghana, and found the highest risk countries for the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, are the US and much of Europe.
EcoHealth Alliance's modeling team says New York's JFK International Airport, Washington Dulles International Airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport and Boston Logan International Airport are at highest risk - as they are the top US airports with direct flight arrivals from the region.
Dr William Karesh, executive vice president of health and policy at EcoHealth Alliance, comments: “It's easy to point the finger at wildlife as the reservoirs of disease, but the real culprit in this scenario is human interaction with wildlife from bushmeat hunting, illegal wildlife trade, habitat destruction and deforestation.”
The global maps prepared by EcoHealth Alliance scientists explain how Ebola may spread via international flight routes, and the alliance says other countries most at risk include the UK, Netherlands, Germany, France, Switzerland, Denmark, Portugal, Austria, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Senegal, Ghana, Gambia, Israel, UAE, Qatar, and Japan.
The EcoHealth Alliance says the capacity of diseases to spread via traveling passengers varies significantly and scientists cannot predict the actual date or times of the plausible arrival of the Ebola virus via an infected traveller.
Scientists can estimate the relative risk of the virus spreading from country to country by identifying the most direct entry points.
Many gateways across the globe have already taken out measures to prevent the disease, by banning flights from East African countries, and carrying out health screening checks on passengers arriving on flights.
Last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Ebola outbreak in West Africa to be an international public health emergency. http://www.airport-world.com/news/general-news/4294-threat-of-ebola-outbreak-highest-at-big-us-airports-health-alliance-says.html
EcoHealth Alliance's modeling team says New York's JFK International Airport, Washington Dulles International Airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport and Boston Logan International Airport are at highest risk - as they are the top US airports with direct flight arrivals from the region.
Dr William Karesh, executive vice president of health and policy at EcoHealth Alliance, comments: “It's easy to point the finger at wildlife as the reservoirs of disease, but the real culprit in this scenario is human interaction with wildlife from bushmeat hunting, illegal wildlife trade, habitat destruction and deforestation.”
The global maps prepared by EcoHealth Alliance scientists explain how Ebola may spread via international flight routes, and the alliance says other countries most at risk include the UK, Netherlands, Germany, France, Switzerland, Denmark, Portugal, Austria, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Senegal, Ghana, Gambia, Israel, UAE, Qatar, and Japan.
The EcoHealth Alliance says the capacity of diseases to spread via traveling passengers varies significantly and scientists cannot predict the actual date or times of the plausible arrival of the Ebola virus via an infected traveller.
Scientists can estimate the relative risk of the virus spreading from country to country by identifying the most direct entry points.
Many gateways across the globe have already taken out measures to prevent the disease, by banning flights from East African countries, and carrying out health screening checks on passengers arriving on flights.
Last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Ebola outbreak in West Africa to be an international public health emergency. http://www.airport-world.com/news/general-news/4294-threat-of-ebola-outbreak-highest-at-big-us-airports-health-alliance-says.html
