Risk of Ebola importation to EU 'very low'

Risks of importation of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) to the European Union (EU) is "very low", concluded the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) in its latest risk assessment report.
“Overall, the risk of becoming infected remains very low if basic precautions are strictly followed as transmission of EVD requires direct contact with blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of dead or living infected persons or animals," said the report.
"Unlike influenza, the virus is not transmitted by air or droplets," according to the report.
Following an upsurge in the number of cases of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone in the last weeks, ECDC evaluated the risk of importation of the disease to the EU, the risk of spreading, as well as the risk to EU travellers and residents in the affected areas in West Africa.
“While people infected with EVD may travel to EU from the affected countries, the risk of secondary transmission to direct close contacts (family or relatives) or in healthcare settings is still considered very low, if prevention measures are implemented,” concluded the risk assessment.
In the meantime, if elementary precautions are followed, the risk of infection is considered also “very low” for tourists, visitors or residents in affected areas.
Such precautions are those such as “avoiding contact with symptomatic patients or dead bodies and their bodily fluids, as well as avoiding unprotected sexual contact with a patient that has recently recovered from the disease,” said the report.
The outbreak in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone is the largest EVD outbreak ever reported, both in terms of cases and the geographical spread, it is also the first time EVD has spread to large cities, according to the assessment.
Established in 2005 and headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden, ECDC is an EU agency aimed at strengthening Europe's defences against infectious diseases.
Ebola, which spreads through mucous and other body fluid or secretions such as stool, urine, saliva and semen of infected people, is believed to be very difficult to control.
Four western African countries -- Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone -- have reported 729 deaths from Ebola with 1,323 infected between the start of March and the end of July.