Ebola Update - Monitoring Travel

Maine - On October 23, the Maine Department of Health & Human Services' Center for Disease Control and Prevention started daily post-arrival monitoring of travelers to Maine whose travel originated in Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea pursuant to the federal CDC guidelines. As you may be aware, a physician who traveled to that region of the world and returned to New York on October 17 tested positive in New York for Ebola. That patient has been hospitalized and is in isolation in New York. Currently, all flights that originate in Liberia, Sierra Leone, or Guinea travel through one of five airports. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo have implemented mandatory quarantine of any medical personnel who have come in contact with a patient with Ebola.

Maine continues to be in close contact with our federal partners and is actively monitoring travelers from this region of the world with Maine as their final destination. We are currently monitoring one traveler who has returned to Maine. The individual has no symptoms of the disease and had no contact with an Ebola patient.

Maine has established protocols for the monitoring of any individual who returns to Maine after
traveling from the impacted West African regions. We have implemented these protocols, which include monitoring the individual for 21 days after the last possible exposure to Ebola. Twenty-one days is the longest time it can take from the time a person is infected with Ebola until that person has symptoms of Ebola.

In addition, the following information will be monitored daily: Temperature; the presence or absence of other Ebola symptoms, such as headache, joint and muscle aches, weakness, diarrhea, vomiting, stomach pain, lack of appetite or abnormal bleeding; and additional travel plans.

Ebola is transmitted only if an individual has direct contact with blood or bodily fluids from a person who is showing symptoms. It is not an airborne disease, nor can a person get Ebola when they have contact with a person who is not showing symptoms.

For the latest information regarding this disease, please go to http://www.maine.gov/ebola . This site is updated frequently and will feature the most-up-to-date information available from the United States Center for Disease Control.