ROBERTS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, Liberia: With the last rays of sunlight speckling the departures area at Liberia’s international airport, passengers queue patiently to go through medical screening designed to show up the Ebola virus.

Roberts International Airport, a former United States Air Force base built 55 kilometers outside of the capital Monrovia during World War II, is at the front line of a new battle — to halt the spread of the most deadly outbreak of the tropical fever in history.

“We put so many processes in place that... focus on the safety of the airline, safety of the crew, safety of the passengers, and most importantly to boost the confidence of those who use our airport,” says Binyah Kessely, director of the board at the Liberia Airport Authority.

Kessely’s job — once simply to ensure the smooth running of the airport — is now to help contain an epidemic that has killed more than 1,500 people across west Africa this year.

He is frustrated by travel bans imposed by several African nations which global health authorities say is hampering the response to the outbreak, but he says he understands people’s worry.

“When you have a situation like the Ebola disease, not many people understand. From what I understand the Ebola disease has a death rate from 50 to 90 percent,” he said.

“That, as a human being, will create fear in any one.”

Kessely says eight of the 11 international airlines serving the airport have suspended their flights.

The decision was triggered, he believes, by African countries neighboring the Ebola zone, such as Ivory Coast and Senegal, to put travel ban on Liberia.