Ebola outbreak raises questions for study abroad students, volunteers

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The Ebola outbreak has raised questions about study abroad programs at universities such as Arizona State University.

Morganne Barrett is not letting the Ebola outbreak in Africa and its spread to the U.S. and Europe dissuade her from applying to the U.S. Peace Corps.

"I don't think fear is enough to keep me from experiencing the world," said Barrett, a senior and global studies major at Arizona State University.

Barrett has recently submitted her Peace Corps application. The group does community, economic and social development project in impoverished countries.

"Disease is a part of life. I could just as easily be exposed to a disease here in Arizona. That doesn't mean I'm going to stay locked in my house all the time," Barrett said.

The Ebola virus has killed more than 4,900 in West Africa. It also has spread to Europe and the U.S. where a Liberian man died in Dallas after traveling from Africa. There have been three confirmed cases in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control.

That has prompted calls for quarantines and travel bans. There are current debates over quarantines and travel restrictions including how they might dissuade American doctors and nurses from trying to help quell the outbreak in Africa.

But it is not discouraging students such as Barrett.

Adam Henry, director of study abroad office at ASU, assures students that the school is taking safety measures to ensure that students will be protected while traveling abroad. Henry said students are currently not allowed to Ebola affected countries and ASU does not hold programs that travel to West Africa. The only program that was supposed to send students to West Africa was cancelled.

He said ASU will bring students home if study abroad locations become dangerous including because of disease.