Ebola risk on airplane is slight

Q: Can I catch the Ebola virus on an airplane?

A: Travelers often have concerns about the health risks of flying in airplanes. Colds may be more than 100 times more likely to be transmitted on a plane than during daily life on the ground, according to the Journal of Environmental Health Research.

Ebola is another concern. The current epidemic in West Africa is the largest Ebola outbreak since the virus was discovered in 1976. It is often fatal.

While colds and influenza are easily spread on an airplane or other public transportation, Ebola is not. The evidence from this epidemic and past outbreaks strongly suggests that the virus cannot be transmitted by a cough or sneeze.

Ebola is spread through direct contact with bodily fluids. To become infected with Ebola requires prolonged, direct contact with an infected person's bodily fluids (blood, vomit, or stool) through broken skin or mucous membranes.

People are contagious only when symptomatic. Humans are not infectious until they develop symptoms such as fever, vomiting, diarrhea, rash, and/or evidence of impaired kidney and liver function.

The Obama administration has stepped up precautions to stop the spread of the virus.

Anyone flying to the U.S. from Ebola-affected countries in West Africa must enter through one of five airports that are screening for the disease: Kennedy International in New York, Newark Liberty International, Washington Dulles International, O'Hare International in Chicago, and Hartsfield-Jackson International in Atlanta.

To keep from spreading disease on an airplane, people who are acutely ill, or still infectious, should delay travel until they aren't contagious.