U.S. to redirect flights from Uganda to five airports for Ebola screening

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 from Uganda each day already land there. There are no direct flights from Uganda to the United States.

Ebola Virus Disease is a rare and often deadly hemorrhagic illness 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 through airborne droplets. It is spread through direct contact with bodily fluids, including blood, urine, feces, saliva or other secretions of 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 conducting exit screening for the virus and other African countries in the region are also checking arrivals for symptoms of the virus.

No cases of the new Sudan strain of the Ebola virus have been reported outside Uganda, where 44 confirmed cases, 10 confirmed deaths, and 20 probable deaths from the virus have been identified, according to the CDC. This is the fifth outbreak of the Sudan 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 large outbreaks in Africa in 2014 and 2018 that killed tens of thousands of people. But a vaccine for the Sudan strain that is being developed has not yet been tested.