Ebola Virus Disease: Controls for body temperature in airports?

Recently, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) expressed confidence in screening measures being taken at the international airports in West Africa to prevent the spread of Ebola Virus Disease. Temperature checks for travelers in West Africa have emerged as the favored front-line, last-minute defense for containing the spread of Ebola Virus Disease.

Do we really believe that temperature checks for travelers could control the spread of Ebola Virus Disease?

In 2009, WHO recommended temperature checks for travelers at all national and international airports during influenza A(H1N1) pandemic.

Should we apply the same preventive measure to control the spread of Ebola Virus Disease?

Of no doubt, this measure could not be applied to control the spread of Ebola Virus Disease. Controls for body temperature in airports did not show to be effective to control the spread of influenza A(H1N1-2009) and alerted people more.

In 2009, a study was done at Narita International Airport (Japan) to retrospectively assess the feasibility of detecting influenza cases upon relying solely on fever screening. The results of the study showed that the sensitivity of fever for detecting influenza A(H1N1-2009) cases upon arrival was estimated to be 22.2% among confirmed influenza A(H1N1-2009) cases. Also, the study reported that about 55.6% of influenza A(H1N1-2009) cases were under antipyretic medications upon arrival.  

Should not we learn from previous mistakes?

Nishiura H, Kamiya K. Fever screening during the influenza (H1N1-2009) pandemic at Narita International Airport, Japan. BMC Infect Dis 2011;11:111.

Please check out this site: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2334/11/111