Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Tom Frieden, listens via video conference as U.S. President Barack Obama (2nd R) holds a meeting with cabinet agencies coordinating the government's Ebola response in the Cabinet Room of
Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Tom Frieden, listens via video conference as U.S. President Barack Obama (2nd R) holds a meeting with cabinet agencies coordinating the government's Ebola response in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington October 15, 2014. Obama cancelled a fund raising trip today to hold the meeting. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

As Ebola continues to ravage West Africa, widespread fear and panic has reached investors causing airline stocks to plummet. According to Washington Post, the news of a nurse diagnosed with Ebola in the U.S. may scare travellers from booking flights. The shares of the largest airline companies in the U.S. fell between 5 and 8 percent before recovering in the afternoon trading of Oct. 15.

Health officials have downplayed the possibility of passengers contracting the Ebola virus on Frontier Airlines Flight 1143 from Cleveland to Dallas-Fort Worth. The speculation that the plane was infected because a nurse was diagnosed with the virus has been put to rest by public health authorities. The nurse reportedly did not show any Ebola symptoms during the flight. As a precaution, health officials were in the process of informing other passengers in the same flight.

The airline industry is counting on the statements of health experts, who repeatedly assure that Ebola is only spread through contact with an infected person's bodily fluids, assuming that he or she is showing symptoms. Health officials also bank on the presumption that a patient with Ebola symptoms would not be able to travel.

International Air Transport Association CEO Tony Tyler said Ebola was unlikely to reduce air travel. He told media that he personally believes the Ebola scare will not cause a drop in air traffic. Robert Mann, Aviation consultant and former executive of American Airlines, said the officials' decision to inform other passenger on the same flight was only done as an extra safety measure. However, it may cause other travellers to delay or postpone their trips.

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Dr Tom Frieden said it was "extremely unlikely" that the passengers on the plane were infected with the virus because the nurse, Amber Joy Vinson, did not show signs of Ebola. The CDC had confirmed from officials later on that Vinson was cleared to fly. Frieden assured that no health care worker involved in the caring of the first Ebola patient in Dallas would be cleared for air travel. According to CDC guidelines, those who are possibly exposed to Ebola are not allowed to travel in commercial flights for 21 days.

Meanwhile, the shares of pharmaceutical companies involved in the development of an Ebola vaccine had previously seen a surge in stock price as the race to find the cure continues. The panic over Ebola along with economic uncertainty and stock vulnerability in October caused the U.S. stock market to tank in the recent midday trading on Oct. 16. Market observers said Ebola was definitely a factor in market uncertainty.