The risk of the deadly Ebola virus spreading to Australia from West Africa is very low, the Commonwealth chief medical officer has said.
Almost 700 people have died in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone over the past four months, including Sheik Umar Khan, a doctor who was at the forefront of the fight against the disease in Sierra Leone.
There is no cure for Ebola, which causes diarrhoea and internal and external bleeding.
The World Health Organisation has warned drastic action is needed to stop the virus from spreading internationally.
But Australia’s chief health officer, Professor Chris Baggoley, says there is no need for panic because the advice from the European Union is that the risk of passing on the disease, even for people coming from Africa, is “really very low”.
“The [air] passenger would need to have visited Guinea, Sierra Leone or Liberia, in particular,” he told 774 ABC Melbourne.
“They [would have been] been in contact with a sick or dead wild animal, particularly bats, or they’ve cared for or touched a severely ill or dead person.”
The virus is thought to live within the fruit bat population in the area.
Professor Baggoley said Ebola is not like the flu, where you can catch the disease from someone with no symptoms.
“If you don’t have symptoms, even if you later go on to develop the disease, they’re not contagious,” he said.
“But if they’re in contact with someone who is symptomatic then they could be incubating the disease themselves.”
Professor Baggoley said his officials have been tracking the spread of the disease for some months.
“We have a tried and true system in relation to our quarantine officers,” he said.
“They know the sorts of things to be looking for and our health system is really well-placed to manage where there is a concern of a disease of this nature.”