FLICKR, ITU PICTURESThe annual meeting of American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH), set to begin in New Orleans on Sunday, will be missing at least some of its planned attendees because Louisiana state health officials are asking that anyone who has traveled to an Ebola-affected region or treated an Ebola patient stay home.
“From a medical perspective, asymptomatic individuals are not at risk of exposing others; however, the State is committed to preventing any unnecessary exposure of Ebola to the general public,” Kathy Kliebert, secretary of Louisiana’s Department of Health and Hospitals, and Kevin Davis, director of the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness wrote in a letter to registered conference attendees. “In Louisiana, we love to welcome visitors, but we must balance that hospitality with the protection of Louisiana residents and other visitors.”
Tropical diseases expert Piero Olliaro of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the University of Oxford in the U.K. is among the list of those who will be prevented from attending the meeting as a result of the new guidelines. He traveled ...
