Ebola outbreak: US advises against quarantine

US health officials will actively monitor health workers who have treated Ebola patients in West Africa, under new rules.

Updated guidelines issued on Monday will require most medics to be checked for symptoms for 21 days but will not require quarantine or isolation.

The announcement comes after a nurse who complained about her quarantine in New Jersey has been allowed home.

The UN Secretary General has condemned quarantine measures.

'They should not be subjected to restrictions that are not based on science,' said Ban Ki-moon.

'Those who develop infections should be supported, not stigmatised.'

People are not contagious until they develop symptoms.

In other developments:

the husband of a Spanish nurse who recovered from Ebola has been sharply critical of the government the UN's chief of Ebola mission has told the BBC the worst is still to come a five-year-old boy has tested negative for Ebola in New York after visiting West Africa and developing a fever the US Pentagon has said about a dozen US troops returning from West Africa are being isolated at a base in Italy

Three US states including New Jersey had said they would require a 21-day quarantine for all health workers who have had contact with Ebola patients.

The move came in response to a New York doctor who fell ill with the Ebola virus last week, the morning after he had travelled on the subway and been bowling.

But on Monday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued fresh guidance for travellers and health workers returning from West Africa, where the outbreak has claimed more than 4,000 lives.

It set out four risk categories, and put most healthcare workers returning from the epidemic-hit region as at 'some risk' of infection.

CDC director Dr Tom Frieden said workers considered to be at high risk or some risk would be required to be 'actively' monitored for symptoms for 21 days.

Those at highest risk are anyone who's had direct contact with an Ebola patient's body fluids.

Even if they have no symptoms, they should avoid commercial travel and large public events, he said. But voluntary quarantine was enough.

Nurse Kaci Hickox said she was made to feel like a criminal after being quarantined in Newark as she returned from Sierra Leone last Friday.

She was released on Monday and flown back to her home in Maine.

The New Jersey health department said Ms Hickox had tested negative for Ebola on Saturday and had been free of symptoms for 24 hours.

Governor Chris Christie defended his state's quarantine procedures and said that Ms Hickox had arrived in the US with a fever, which the nurse denies.

More than 10,000 people have contracted the Ebola virus, with 4,922 deaths, according to the World Health Organization's latest figures.

All but 27 of the cases have occurred inside Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.

The virus spreads through close contact and health officials say stopping the spread of the disease in the areas hardest hit by the outbreak will prevent Ebola's spread to other countries.

Dr Frieden told reporters on Monday the CDC was 'looking forward' to working with states to put in place appropriate guidelines for returning workers.

But he said the agency was 'concerned about some policies' being put into place.

Separately, the Pentagon has said about a dozen US troops retuning from West Africa are being isolated at a base in Italy 'out of an abundance of caution'.

Pentagon spokesman Col Steven Warren told reporters none of the soldiers displayed symptoms of Ebola.

Ebola virus disease (EVD)

Symptoms include high fever, bleeding and central nervous system damage Spread by body fluids, such as blood and saliva Fatality rate can reach 90% - but current outbreak has mortality rate of about 70% No proven vaccine or cure Fruit bats, a delicacy for some West Africans, are considered to be virus's natural host Ebola special report