West Africa is seeing its worst-ever Ebola epidemic since the virus was discovered 40 years ago.

The first cases of Ebola haemorrhagic fever appeared in Guinea in February. The disease has now reached Sierra Leone and Liberia with a total of more than 1,300 confirmed cases and 729 deaths.

According to Reuters, authorities have not taken any action so far to limit international flights in the region to contain the disease. The World Health Organization (WHO) has not recommended any restrictions thus far, the airlines association IATA was quoted by Reuters as saying.

Since the Ebola virus does not spread through coughing, sneezing or shaking hands but by only through direct contact with infected blood or secretions, or via contaminated objects such as needles, authorities say there is little risk that Ebola could move from Africa to Europe, Asia or the Americas.

There is a chance that a passenger could board a flight before developing full-blown symptoms, but it is difficult for the virus to spread in the early stages of the disease.

According to the WHO, patients are most contagious when Ebola haemorrhagic fever is in its terminal stages and causes massive internal bleeding, profuse vomiting and diarrhoea. At that stage patients should have already been quarantined by authorities.

To prevent the virus from spreading by land, Liberia on Monday closed most of its land border crossings and public schools, restricted public gatherings, and quarantined some communities.

The measures followed the death of one of the country’s top Ebola doctors over the weekend, as well the infection of two U.S. health-care workers.

Neighboring Ivory Coast has reinforced health checks on border posts.

The only time an Ebola case from Africa made it to Europe was in 1994, when a Swiss zoologist became infected after dissecting a chimpanzee in Ivory Coast.
She recovered in a hospital in Switzerland and did not infect any other people.

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