Doctors and health professionals in Australia are on the lookout for symptoms of Ebola in patients who've travelled to West Africa.
It comes as the death toll from the virus passed more than 930 across west Africa.
The World Health Organisation has been holding an urgent meeting, to decide whether to declare an international public health emergency.
It's a virus so contagious, doctors treat patients from behind a barrier of protective clothing.
It's no surprise, people are afraid.
An Australian priest working in Sierra Leone, Father Themi Adamopoulos, says an exodus of foreign aid workers, is causing panic.
"People say well they come here ostensibly to help us but the wolf comes, they run away. The white people that come from overseas with the utopian concepts, when the danger comes they run away."
Australian medical professionals are being given advice on treating people with fever who've recently travelled to West Africa.
Dr Vicky Sheppeard from New South Wales Health says the warning is routine - and no cause for alarm.
"It's very unlikely that a case will arrive in Australia. But it's very important that if a case does arrive that our hospitals are ready."
Dr Sheppeard says the symptoms of Ebola are similar to other, more common diseases.
"People travelling in those parts of the world are more likely to contract something like Malaria or Dengue. And that's the most likely diagnosis."
While the Ebola threat in Australia may be low, in West Africa, it's a different story.
The outbreak began in Guinea, spreading quickly to Liberia and Sierra Leone, and then to Nigeria.
There's also been a suspected case in Saudi Arabia - where a man died after returning from Sierra Leone.
And Spanish priest has been flown home from Liberia, the first patient to be evacuated to Europe for treatment.
Earlier, two American aid workers were flown home.
Vicky Sheppeard from NSW Health says if Ebola makes it to Australia - it would not spread as fast, or cause as many deaths, as in West Africa.
"In Australia we have a very advanced health system. In many places where this infection is occuring in West Africa there are not even hospitals, or very basic clinics. So it's a very different situation that allows infection to spread from person to person than would be the case here in Australia."
A declaration of international public health emergency by the World Health Organisation would give officials greater powers to quarantine people in affected areas.
The WHO's emergency committee is due to hand down its recommendations tomorrow.
Share
