EU considers screening for Ebola at airports

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European health ministers will consider screening travellers for the Ebola virus at airports across the EU when they meet in Brussels on Thursday. Britain has already introduced entry screening as public concern has mounted about the spread of the disease from West Africa and the other 27 EU states could follow suit, an EU official said on Wednesday - although governments are free to set their own guidelines on health and medical issues. The European Commission, the bloc's executive body, says it is still weighing up the effectiveness of entry screening, given that travellers are screened on departure from the affected areas and have a low probability of developing infectious symptoms between leaving an African airport and arriving in Europe. The EU official said one key element of entry screening could be informing arriving passengers of what to do if they later fell ill - notably telling them not to turn up without warning at hospital after developing symptoms of Ebola. (Reporting by Julia Fioretti; Writing by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Alison Williams)