July 31, 2026
In his Hindustan Times column, Vital Signs, OHT’s Dr. Ramanan Laxminarayan writes that requiring all international travellers to complete health declaration forms may do little to prevent Ebola from entering India. Because Ebola has an incubation period of up to 21 days, infected people often have no symptoms while travelling, making questionnaires and temperature checks unlikely to detect cases. Studies from past outbreaks have shown that airport screening identifies only a small number of infected travellers.
Instead of relying on broad screening measures, Dr. Laxminarayan recommends focusing resources where they can have the greatest impact. This includes training hospitals to quickly identify patients with recent travel to affected regions, expanding rapid laboratory testing, strengthening infection prevention, and preparing designated hospitals to safely manage suspected cases. He also suggests targeted monitoring of travellers arriving from outbreak areas rather than requiring forms from millions of low-risk passengers, improving preparedness while making better use of public health resources.
Read it here.
