Ebola still top health concern for many

Ebola remains a top health concern for Americans, according to a new poll, even as cases of the deadly virus in the United States have remained limited.

{mosads}Seventeen percent of Americans polled by Gallup said Ebola is the top health problem facing the country. Two other concerns — the cost of healthcare and access to care — ranked slightly higher.

Concern over the virus varies based on educational background. Twenty-two percent of adults with no college experience named it as a top concern, as opposed to 11 percent of adults with at least a four-year college degree.

The survey had a random sample of 828 adults and a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent.

The survey was conducted as only one of the four individuals diagnosed with the virus on American soil was still being treated. At the time, one in the U.S. person had died from Ebola. Two healthcare workers who treated him had fully recovered at the time of the survey.

Since the poll was taken, a surgeon with ties to Maryland died Monday, after he was transported from Sierra Leone to Nebraska to be treated for the virus.

Health officials said Sunday that they would begin to screen travelers coming to the U.S. from Mali, which has started to report instances of the virus. Travel screening is already in place for three other countries in West Africa.

However, the disease appears to be abating in Liberia, one of the countries hit hardest by the epidemic.