The airports are JFK International Airport in New York, Washington-Dulles International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport, Chicago-O’Hare International Airport, and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
Most of the 145 people who arrive daily from Uganda are already landing there. There are no direct flights between Uganda and the United States.
Ebola virus disease is a rare and often fatal disease bleeding disease that causes fever, headache, muscle and joint pain, fatigue, loss of appetite and gastrointestinal symptoms as well as unexplained bleeding. Unlike covid-19, the virus is not transmitted by airborne droplets. It is spread through direct contact with bodily fluids, including blood, urine, feces, saliva, or other secretions from a person who has symptoms or has died from the disease; infected animals or contaminated objects such as needles, according to the CDC.
There are no known cases in the United States, and the government believes the risk to the public here is low, according to the official.
Uganda is screening for the virus on exit and other African countries in the region are also screening arrivals for symptoms of the virus.
No cases of the new Sudanese strain of Ebola virus have been reported outside of Uganda, where 44 confirmed cases, 10 confirmed deaths and 20 probable deaths from the virus have been identified, according to the CDC. It is the fifth outbreak of the Sudanese strain of the virus in Uganda since 2000, the health agency said.
There is a vaccine for the Zaire strain of the virus, which caused two major outbreaks in Africa in 2014 and 2018 that killed tens of thousands of people. But a vaccine against the Sudanese strain in development has yet to be tested.
