October 13, 2014

expert reaction to Jeremy Hunt’s statement on Ebola and the government’s response in the UK

The health secretary Jeremy Hunt made a statement to the House of Commons on the response of the government to the possibility of cases of Ebola within the UK, including screening the border.

Prof David Evans, Professor of Virology, University of Warwick, said:

“The risk of Ebola arriving in the UK is directly related to the number of cases in West Africa. The statement this afternoon emphasised that the best way to protect the UK was to tackle the Ebola outbreak at source. This remains the case and must be the international priority. The logistics and health care support offered by the UK to Sierra Leone should go some way to containing the disease in that country.“

“The statement also correctly acknowledged that testing inbound passengers from West Africa was unlikely to detect symptomatic cases arriving in the UK. However, the introduction of inbound passenger testing will both raise awareness and provide information that should ensure that passengers who subsequently develop symptoms can rapidly seek medical advice and, if needed, treatment. The proposed daily follow-up of potentially high-risk inbound passengers from West Africa provides further safeguards, though it was notable that the statement did not make clear the total number of passengers arriving daily, or the capacity of the screening or follow-up activity.”

“It is important to remember that inbound passenger testing is not without problems. It is expected that 11% of passengers from West Africa will not be screened, either because they do not have through tickets and so cannot be identified, or because they enter the UK somewhere other than the major airports or Eurostar. The increased information provided at points of entry coupled with travel histories requested from callers to the 111 helpline should help identify individuals who develop symptoms that were not directly screened on entry.”

“It is expected that Ebola will be introduced to the UK – based on the size of the outbreak and known passenger numbers travelling from West Africa. Successful control of Ebola, whether here or in West Africa, requires prompt action – both to support the individual and to protect the community. The measures introduced are therefore sensible, but primarily because they raise awareness of the disease in travellers and their contacts.”

Statement here: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/ebola-epidemic-in-west-africa

Previous output on Ebola from the SMC: http://www.sciencemediacentre.org/ebola-outbreak/

Declared interests

None declared