East Africa is on high alert following an outbreak of Ebola, which has killed more than 670 people in West Africa. Scientists believe the Ebola virus could spread to the region through international travel and have asked governments to enhance surveillance and screening for the disease at border points and airports.

All major airports in Tanzania have been equipped with Ebola screening devices for testing passengers arriving from West Africa for the virus.

“We have a special arrangement in all airports where passengers are screened and when they are found infected we put them in quarantine. So far none has been found infected,” Tanzanian Minister for Health Seif Rashid said in a phone interview.

At the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, surveillance is being carried out for all flights from West Africa by the Port Health Unit.

However, Kenya and Uganda have this week been forced to assure citizens that no cases have been reported especially after one Korean woman who was found with fever symptoms was said to have transited through Nairobi.

Rwanda has set up a specialised clinic and quarantine area at the Kigali International Airport, even though no case has been reported in the country.

The virus has a gestation period of up to 21 days, during which a traveller who is a carrier can easily pass through the checks as a perfectly healthy person.

O-Tipo Shikanga, the head of Disease Surveillance and Response, said the government had put in place measures to prevent the spread of the disease. “The alert has been dispatched to port health services countrywide and we are working with the airlines carrying passengers to and from these countries,” said Mr Shikanga.

Uganda has been the worst hit in East Africa with on and off Ebola outbreaks since the year 2000. Julius Lutwama, head of the National Influenza Centre at the Uganda Virus Research Institute, said the risks of the disease spreading would be minimal with restricted travel.

With travel to and from West Africa yet to be regulated, he said, the health systems in East Africa may not immediately be able to detect people arriving with the fever.

“To be able to predict where the next outbreak is going to be, you have to know what carries the virus. Right now, the reservoir animal is not known; it could be an animal, insect or fruit bats. So the whole region is at risk,” says Dr Lutwama.

Dr Radhid said the Tanzanian government would launch an intensive campaign t sensitize the general public on the symptoms of Ebola and how they can prevent infection.

Since 2000 Uganda has trained health workers, opinion leaders and traditional medicine people to identify and report any suspected cases immediately.

“The diagnostic lab is all the time receiving samples for testing,” he said. However, renewed efforts from government and other stakeholders are necessary to sustain and expand progress achieved through implementation of Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) IDSR.”

The Entebbe-based UVRI can now test and analyse the Ebola virus as opposed to previous instances when the sample had to be flown to CDC laboratories in Atlanta, US. This also accounts for the faster diagnosis and detection of the virus compared with countries whose healthcare systems are less robust.

What is certain, he said however, is that Uganda lies in the area where the reservoir lives, and humans often in contact with animals, insects or fruit bats that are suspected to be the carriers of the virus.

According to Dr Litwama, the West African countries have been unable to contain the disease because of denial of the disease by the public, reliance on traditional medicine, poor health infrastructure, first experience (inexperienced health workers).

Additional reporting by Christopher Kidanka