WASHINGTON — Ahead of a White House meeting on the Ebola outbreak, federal health officials said today the U.S. is weighing whether to institute extra screening at U.S. airports where travelers from Ebola-stricken African nations may be arriving.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said “discussion is under way right now” and “all options are being looked at.” The question, Fauci told CNN, is whether “the extra level of screening is going to be worth the resources you need to put into it.”

“There is clear-cut screening going on in the exit end,” Fauci said, referring to the Ebola-affected countries’ practice of screening outbound passengers before they leave. The current U.S. discussion, he said, centers on “what kind of screening you do on the entry end.”

Dr. Tom Frieden of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said officials are looking at all options “to see what we can do to increase safety of all Americans.” Extra screening might include checking travelers to see if they have a fever, then evaluating them further if they do, he said. He said about 40,000 people had come into the U.S. from African countries over the past six months, including Americans returning from travels there.

The Obama administration has said that it won’t shut down flights from affected countries, particularly those in West Africa. Fauci reiterated that such a travel ban could end up spreading the epidemic in those countries, making it harder to get aid in, for instance, and further isolating those nations.

The U.S. military is beginning work in the Liberian capital Monrovia on the main structure of the 25-bed clinic that will treat health care workers infected with Ebola. The U.S. has also promised to build 17 other such clinics.