Isolate Ebola, not Africa

The1 human tragedy of the haemorrhagic fever that has almost brought Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea to a standstill is obvious enough, but it also poses a very real threat to the economies of Africa and specifically the tourist industry.

There have been reports of a cut in 40% of tourists visiting Kenya and South Africa, but I have no idea if these are true. It hardly matters, rumour and perception can do the damage.

Ebola is still confined to those three countries, apart from isolated cases elsewhere, but it is not alarmist to expect it to spread. It's only realistic because we live in a world that is more open and fluid than ever: people are constantly on the move.

This week, Britain's chief medical officer, Dame Sally Davies, said the country should expect ebola cases in the coming months.

London mayor Boris Johnson said much the same thing, adding that such cases wo most likely be found in London.

The three affected African countries are closer to the UK than they are to South Africa, with better air and sea links. Similarly, about 150 people a day enter the United States from those three nations.

We are told, and we want to believe, that containing ebola is not a problem in countries with well-developed health systems. We hope so, because its spread is hard to predict and stop.

Screening arriving passengers at airports is the "right thing to so" as Sally Davies said, but its pretty ineffective as an infected person takes up to three weeks before showing symptoms. Such screening may help a little, but mostly they makes the public feel that something is being done. Filling in forms is as pointless: people can be ignorant of their own condition or lie.

There is consensus that the only way to beat Ebola is to stop it at source. That means an international effort to help countries, not isolate them.

IMF chief Christine Lagarde has pleaded with people to remember that all of Africa has not been hit with the epidemic.

That's the point. We all know jokes about Americans (and others) thinking that Africa is one country, but its not funny: they do. Ebola can hurt all of us, and especially the tourist industry. Holiday plans are fickle and fair-weather friends looking for sunshine - in the face of bad publicity - can easily go eslewhere..Unsworth is editor of Travel Weekly