EU airport screening

European Union (EU) health ministers were set to meet in Brussels on Thursday to discuss the introduction of Ebola screenings at airports across Europe, in light of the current crisis.

Responsibility lies with the 28 individual EU member states, but EU officials want to ensure consistency across the union.

Britain became the first EU country to follow the US' lead last week and begin Ebola screening at several of its large airports and train stations.

That occurred despite a lack of specific recommendedations from the World Health Organization or the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC),

Fever checks

The Czech Republic and France followed suit on Wednesday, with French Health Minister Marisol Touraine saying France would begin checks on passengers arriving at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport from the Guinea capital of Conakry from next Saturday.

Passengers arriving in France on the daily flights from Conakry will have their temperature taken by medics before they enter the Paris area airport building.

"The first precaution is to ensure that someone who has a fever does not board the plane," Touraine said. As part of the checks, passengers will also be asked to fill out a questionnaire which will enable health authorities to track them down if necessary after they land.

36,000 passengers checked so far

According to the European airport council ACI Europe, 36,000 passengers traveling from Ebola-affected areas to screening European countries have undergone checks so far. 77 of those tested were not allowed to fly - of which none turned out to be actually infected.

In a statement this week, ACI Europe urged that any action taken by the EU should be properly "thought through and fully coordinated" to avoid "an inefficient patchwork of measures."

Uneffective measures?

The efficacy of such screening remains under scrutiny, particularly due to the fact that Ebola has a 21-day incubation period.

"The battle ground for this disease … remains in West Africa" said one EU official, acknowledging that airport screenings could, however, provide "another level of reassurance."

The haemorrhagic virus also exhibits a lot of symptoms similar to those of other illnesses, which could result in a number of false alarms.

The Ebola crisis is expected to be one of the main topics at the ASEM Asia-Europe Meeting which opens in the Italian city of Milan on Thursday.

ksb/ipj (dpa, AFP)