Most Americans have little fear they or a family member will contract Ebola, the infectious disease now spreading through parts of Africa, according to the results of a nationwide poll released Monday.

About 67 percent of respondents in the poll, taken by the Pew Research Center Oct. 2-5, say they are either “not too worried” or “not at all worried” about contracting the illness, which has claimed 3,400 lives in Africa. Just 11 percent say they are “very worried” about Ebola, while another 21 percent of respondents say they are “somewhat worried.”

A patient in Texas is the first confirmed case in the United States, although there have been several false alarms. A passenger who had been ill on a flight from Liberia to Newark Liberty International Airport was hospitalized but had not contracted the illness, state health officials said Saturday.

Most Americans overall trust in the government’s ability to prevent an outbreak, although some groups are more confident than others. Among Democrats, 69 percent have a great deal or a fair amount of confidence, while Republicans were more evenly divided, with about 51 percent reporting little or no confidence in the government versus 48 percent reporting a high or fair level of confidence.

The poll, of 1,007 adults, also revealed a split along racial lines, with 47 percent of blacks and 39 percent of Hispanics reporting a moderate or high level of fear of exposure to the virus. The corresponding figure for white respondents was 27 percent.

Click here to read the entire poll.

Paul Milo may be reached at pmilo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @PaulMilo2. Find NJ.com on Facebook.