Leaders of Minnesota's West African community urge against travel to Liberia

With concerns growing about the Ebola virus spreading to the United States, leaders of Minnesota's West African community are urging people not to travel to Liberia and other countries affected by the outbreak.

The north Twin Cities metro is home to one of the largest Liberian-American populations in the United States.

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Abdullah Kiatamba -- who heads the Minnesota African Task Force Against Ebola -- said most people are getting the message about not traveling to west Africa.

But that message needs to be reinforced now that a Liberian man -- Thomas Duncan -- traveled to Texas after contracting the virus, Kiatamba said.

"A lot of people are worried in Minnesota. What if Duncan was in Minnesota? What if he had come to Minnesota? The community will be in panic," he said.

Kiatamba said he fears the immigrant community in Minnesota would be stigmatized if someone went to visit a sick or dying relative in west Africa and returned with the disease.