Western countries, they don't understand that, when Africa is affected, they are also at risk, because people are flying every day," he said.The disease is classified as a zoonotic viral hemorrhagic fever, which can be passed between humans and other primates.Symptoms are typically flu-like to begin with — making it hard to distinguish from other illnesses — before progressing to severe fevers and muscle pain, internal and external bleeding, and multi-organ failure.The disease can be spread via direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person, making medical staff treating Ebola patients the most at risk of catching the disease Even at the height of the 2014 outbreak, which affected some 28,000 people, no infections spread to the country and Australia has never recorded an Ebola infection.The Australian Centre for Disease Control says the country has strong systems in place to prevent and respond to the disease.The illness is much less transmissible than a disease like COVID-19 and is not thought to be airborne, except possibly by people who are very sick and unlikely to be mobile.In 2014, Australia temporarily restricted visas to people from heavily affected nations, and humanitarian workers returning from the region were placed under public health surveillance.The government at the time also contributed $1 million to the WHO to help control the spread of the outbreak.A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson told SBS News that the government is "closely monitoring the current outbreak"