Forum: travel.stackexchange.com
Tags: <air-travel><india><health><event-based-effects>
Title: Is New Delhi, India, safe to travel to? (Ebola Scare)
Question: I'm a fairly paranoid traveler. I'm in Chennai at the moment, but I can't wait to get back home to Los Angeles. Because of the general lack of hygiene here and, well, the way they handle things like food, I do not want to be in India at all.  I've been reading that New Delhi has the most West African expats in the country. I have to go there for a business meeting. What is the general chance to catch Ebola in New Delhi?

Answers:
sents: text: I wouldn't worry about Ebola in India, and neither does the Economist .
text: There is a small Indian diaspora in West Africa (far smaller than the one in East Africa, mind you), but compared to India's sheer population the amount of passengers traveling between the two is pretty minuscule.
text: Now add in that Ebola transmission requires direct contact with a patient's bodily fluids, and all told, you're considerably more likely to be killed by a roller coaster .
text: PS.
text: You might want to worry about hepatitis, typhoid, malaria, dengue, Japanese encephalitis, bubonic plague, chikungunya, leptospirosis, schistosomiasis, meningitis, rabies, cholera and dysentery though ;)
answer_details: author: travel.stackexchange.com/users/1893/lambshaanxy
score: 9
sents: text: Based on your comment you should be scared to go back home because if i compare to current situation, India don't have a Ebola case yet
text: but USA have.
text: Jokes apart
text: i think you are safe to go to Delhi, Just make sure you drink packaged drinking water and you should be fine.
text: Stay and eat in any 5 star hotel if you don't like local food and its hygiene.
answer_details: author: travel.stackexchange.com/users/18882/KD.
score: 4
sents: text: According to the latest news there no problems reported with Ebola in India.
text: There are only a few cases outside of the African continent itself, e.g. in Spain and the United States, but not in India.
answer_details: author: travel.stackexchange.com/users/21819/Hispacar
score: 3
sents: text: As others have noted, the chances of contracting Ebola in India are so close to zero that they are literally not worth worrying about.
text: Even closer to zero if you practice hygiene precautions at a paranoid level already, as you suggest that you do.
text: There are worse places to be overall-health-wise than India, I suspect.
text: I've visited LA, New Delhi and Chennai, amongst 'quite a few' other places.
text: The chances of dying from gunshot or car accident or being mugged or having my lungs (slightly more) eroded by air pollution in LA would make any dangers I faced in Chennai or ND more attractive.
text: I'd love to spend more time looking around LA, but given the choice if I was offered a free one week trip to any of the 3, LA would be last on my list.
text: [I'd probably choose ND and take a quick trip to Nepal].
text: FWIW people 'under watch' for Ebola have a finite or low chance of actually having it.
text: In China I met a young couple who were unwise enough to try to cross Vietnam-China at a less common border crossing during one of the bird flu scares.
text: He had been carrying her pack and it was a hot day and ... .
text: Would you come with me, please, Sir, or equivalent.
text: Some weeks were served in a Vietnamese hell-hole (didn't have to be that way, it's just what the authorities decided to do) with some very illogical actions along the way before being sent on their way.
text: How is that relevant to you?
text: In this way ....
text: When you rush to the departure gate all hot and bothered on a hot Indian day, take a moment to calm down, walk slower and wipe your brow with an alcohol wipe as you approach the IR scanner - or you may be closer to people "under watch" than you are at all happy with.
text: Note:
text: What do you do for a living?
text: If electrical/electronic or about anything "technical" (I learn real fast :-)), then if you ever want somebody to attend a conference in India on your behalf, all expenses paid and a modest per diem, please advise.
text: Any time :-)
answer_details: author: travel.stackexchange.com/users/3301/Russell McMahon
score: 3
sents: text: I am currently in Hyderabad,India (making some business) and it is quite safe here related with Ebola.
text: Less secure currently is in USA and EU.
answer_details: author: travel.stackexchange.com/users/20502/Rastko
score: 1

Summary of the answers:
Ebola is barely an issue in India, and it may be less secure in the USA and EU. If travelling to Delhi, make sure you drink packaged drinking water and stay and eat in any 5 star hotel if you don't like local food and its hygiene.
Travellers are very unlikely to catch Ebola in India. Infact the risk is probably greater in th US or the EU. Precautions recommended to protect against diseases in general include drinking bottled water and staying/eating in a 5 star hotel.