Listen to this articleA passenger is checked with a thermal imager at Soekarno Hatta International Airport near Jakarta, one of many locations in Asia where arriving passengers are being screened. (Photo: Reuters)LONDON - Airport screening for Nipah virus, which has been stepped up across Asia this week after two cases were identified in India, are more about reassurance than science, several leading experts said on Friday. Piero Olliaro, professor of poverty-related disease at the University of Oxford, said airport screening for such a rare disease was likely to be ineffective. Olliaro and other public health experts said airport temperature screening rarely worked to stop the spread of disease. Also, many illnesses can cause a fever, and follow-up testing for a rare disease like Nipah is time-consuming, the experts added.
