Plane passenger fearing Ebola outbreak wears full virus protective suit and mask at airport

Washington DC, USA: The shocking sight met travellers at Washington DC's Dulles Airport as the scare regarding the deadly disease continues to take hold around the world.

This panicked plane passenger was taking no risks as the Ebola scare sweeps the planet.

Official figures for the deadly disease – for which there is no known cure – say 4,447 people have died as a result of Ebola.

But there are fears that as many as 18,000 people worldwide could be infected – with numbers on the rise every day.

With an international health emergency declared by the World Health Organisation, it's clear that panic is setting in around the world.

And with regular fliers among the at-risk group, one traveller wasn't prepared to leave anything to chance.

The photograph – published by the Daily Caller – shows a passenger at Washington DC's Dulles Airport wearing a DIY hazardous materials suit complete with mask as she waited in the departure lounge.

The sight was sure to have shocked fellow travellers already rocked by the news on the same day that a second nurse was diagnosed with Ebola in Dallas.

Thomas Eric Duncan - the first person to die of Ebola on US soil - flew to Texas last month from Liberia, with a stopover at Dulles.

Health chiefs say he was showing symptoms of the virus at that point and therefore was not contagious.

But Amber Wilson, the second nurse to contract Ebola after treating Duncan, flew on a commercial flight on Monday – the day before she admitted herself to hospital complaining of symptoms of Ebola.

The United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has tried to take the sting out of the passenger panic by assuring travellers the disease is not spread by casual contact.

Some are clearly not convinced.

Last week a plane passenger was confronted by men wearing hazardous waste suits and oxygen masks after screaming on a flight: "I have Ebola! You are all screwed!"

The worst ever outbreak of the Ebola virus gripped West Africa in July, infecting more than 1,000 people and killing almost 700.

Dr Bart Janssens, director of operations for Medecins Sans Frontieres described the outbreak as "out of control."

With an incubation period between 2 and 21 days, it's possible for people to be infected without knowing it.

The Ebola virus is among the most lethal diseases known to man. There is no vaccine, no cure, and it kills 90% of infected patients.

Outbreaks typically occur in remote villages in Central and West Africa, near tropical rainforests. The spread of the disease is worsened by mistrust of western medicine in some African communities.

Ebola infections start when the disease is passed to humans from wild animals. It then spreads through communities by direct contact with blood, bodily fluids or corpse of an infected person.

The illness often starts with a fever, weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat. This develops into vomiting, diarrhoea, rashes, failing liver and kidney function and bleeding.

The epidemic is thought to have begun in Guinea in March, before spreading to Liberia and Sierra Leone.

It's the worst outbreak of the disease on record, according to the World Health Organisation.

The current outbreak is thought to have been passed to humans from the region's fruit bat population.

The spread of the disease is thought to have quickened due to local people mistrusting medical teams. Some believed the outbreak is a hoax - or even that health workers are killing patients.