Ebola outbreak: Obama administration considers passenger screenings to prevent spread of disease

A Liberian man infected with the virus was able to land in Dallas without raising alarm

Washington, DC. Obama met with the national security team and senior staff on stopping the outbreak of Ebola (AFP PHOTO/Brendan SMIALOWSKI)

The United States is considering the introduction of a more stringent screening process for airline passengers travelling to the country in a bid to combat the spread of Ebola.

Washington continues to rule out any blanket ban on travel from West Africa. At the moment, passengers leaving the most-affected countries - Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone - are screened for symptoms before leaving.

“We have learned some lessons, though, in terms of what happened in Dallas,” President Obama said on Monday after meeting with his national security team at the White House. “We don’t have a lot of margin for error. The procedures and protocols that are put in place must be followed.”

Last week, the first person to be diagnosed on US soil last week was confirmed. Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian man, remains in a critical condition and has been receiving an experimental drug in a Dallas hospital.

An American video journalist Ashoka Mukpo, 33, who returned from Liberia for treatment, has also been taken into care at Nebraska Medical Centre.

Thomas Eric Duncan, right, with a friend at a wedding in Ghana. Duncan has been kept in isolation at a hospital (AP)

Medical workers in Texas are among those waiting to find out whether they had been infected by Duncan.

Travellers leaving countries affected by Ebola are currently being checked for fever before they're allowed to board airplanes, but the disease's incubation period is 21 days and symptoms could arise later.

Airline crews and border agents already watch for obviously sick passengers.