The latest developments on Ebola

Europe, others weigh risks of West African flights

After seven months in Ebola-stricken Liberia, Vijay Kumar was getting his temperature scanned Thursday at the airport by medical crews in blue gowns and masks – one of dozens who relied on Royal Air Maroc’s continuing flights to West Africa.

“Of course we are all scared,” the cell phone worker said as he and dozens of passengers made their way through the international airport in Casablanca, Morocco. But “we really appreciate their procedures, it’s a good system.”

He was finally heading home to Chennai, India, relieved that there were still flights operating, after British Airways and Emirates suspended travel to the region. Airlines from Morocco, France and Belgium are still flying in and out of West Africa, encouraged by the World Health Organization, because stopping would keep out needed aid workers and supplies – and wouldn’t necessarily halt the spread of the disease.

It can take up to 21 days before a person infected with Ebola starts to show symptoms that can be found in airport screening tests. During that period, an individual carrying Ebola can get a flight to anywhere in the world and fall ill later – as happened with a Liberian man who developed Ebola and died in the U.S. this week.

Money, troops, supplies sent to help fight Ebola

As the Ebola outbreak continues to spiral out of control in West Africa, numerous countries and agencies have pitched in to help.

Among the donations and promises of help:

Hospital: No signs of Ebola in Dallas-area officer

The Dallas hospital treating a sheriff’s deputy who went into the apartment where an Ebola victim was living says the deputy is showing no signs that he’s also infected.

Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas said in a statement Thursday that Michael Monnig remains in good condition one day after he was taken by ambulance to the hospital.

The hospital says Monnig does not have a fever, vomiting or diarrhea. Results of further testing are expected later Thursday.

Monnig was one of the deputies who went inside the Dallas apartment where Thomas Eric Duncan was staying. Monnig did not have contact with Duncan, but did see some of Duncan’s family members now in isolation. Duncan died Wednesday.

Officials say none of Duncan’s relatives have shown any signs that they are infected.

THE TOLL

As of Wednesday, Ebola has killed about 3,800 people in West Africa and infected at least 8,000, according to the World Health Organization. The virus has taken an especially devastating toll on health care workers, sickening or killing more than 370 of them in the hardest-hit countries of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone – places that already were short on doctors and nurses.

THE U.S. PATIENTS

With Duncan’s death, two patients with Ebola are being treated in the U.S. A freelance NBC News cameraman arrived in Nebraska for treatment earlier this week. And an American aid worker has been undergoing treatment in Atlanta since last month. In total, five Americans with Ebola have returned home for treatment.

A sheriff’s deputy who went into the apartment where Duncan had stayed was hospitalized Wednesday “out of an abundance of caution” after becoming ill, officials said.

Federal and state health officials say there’s no indication the deputy had any direct contact with Duncan.

THE WAY IT SPREADS

The virus that causes Ebola is not airborne and can only be spread through direct contact with bodily fluids – blood, sweat, vomit, feces, urine, saliva or semen – of an infected person who is showing symptoms.

THE TREATMENTS

There are no approved medications for Ebola, so doctors have tried experimental treatments in some cases, including drugs and blood transfusions from others who have recovered from Ebola. The survivor’s blood could carry antibodies for the disease that will help a patient fight off the virus.

The cameraman was to receive a transfusion of blood drawn from Dr. Kent Brantly, the first of the five Americans to return to the U.S. to be treated for Ebola. Both the cameraman and Duncan received an experimental drug called brincidofovir, an oral medication developed to fight several other viruses.

This story was originally published October 9, 2014 at 11:10 AM.