The US will award $1 million in funding to whoever can design the best hazmat suit, as the Ebola crisis has driven demand for the protective gear to record highs.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is calling on the internet to design an anti-contamination suit that will better protect aid workers from catching Ebola.

Part of the initiative “Fighting Ebola: A Grand Challenge for Development,” USAID is hoping to solve hazmat suit hazards such as tropical heat stress from the African climate and the risk disease exposure as the suit is being removed.

USAID has given no indication of existing hazmat suit standards, seemingly hoping to benefit from some outside-the-box thinking.

See the Ebola outbreak mapped Show all 7 1 /7 See the Ebola outbreak mapped See the Ebola outbreak mapped 25 March 2014 This outbreak of the Ebola virus first emerged in the Guéckédou region of Guinea, at a crossroads with both Liberia and Sierra Leone See the Ebola outbreak mapped 31 March On 31 March the WHO confirmed the outbreak was now international, spreading first into Liberia's northern-most Lofa region See the Ebola outbreak mapped 27 May The virus spread to Sierra Leone at the end of May - just as agencies were hoping the worst was over See the Ebola outbreak mapped 27 July In Sierra Leone the virus boomed, and then it spread to Nigeria when the Liberian diplomat Patrick Sawyer flew from Monrovia to Lagos See the Ebola outbreak mapped 9 August The Nigeria cases sparked fears around the world, and there have now been deaths in Spain and Saudi Arabia involving people who had travelled to West Africa. The numbers of cases continue to rise See the Ebola outbreak mapped 17-20 September In mid-September, Senegal confirmed its first case linked to the Ebola outbreak, a development the WHO described as a top priority emergency. Numbers of cases continued to grow exponentially in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, as experts warned they could number one million by January if not contained See the Ebola outbreak mapped 8 October Two cases of Ebola have now been reported in the US and Europe - the first times the virus has been contracted among health workers outside Africa

The eventual design, which is due in two months, should incorporate face cooling shields and enable the suit to be reused. It is likely to be used in the Western African countries where the disease is already widespread.

The government agency also said it was vital that these suits be used by airport staff, TSA staff and for those involved in burials.

Starting today, five US airports will begin screening travellers from West African countries for Ebola using non-contact thermal guns, as well as questioning over health and exposure to infected patients.

The US is asking for hazmat suits designed to withstand Africa's tropical climate

This hazmat suit initiative comes as demand in the US for the anti-contamination gear saw record-breaking growth following the country's first reported Ebola case and death.

On Thursday, a day in which the stock market largely fell, shares in Lakeland Industries, a hazmat suit manufacturer, grew by 50 per cent.

Lakeland has seen its value increase by 160 per cent just this month.

Such is the demand for anti-Ebola equipment, phoney emails are being distributed across the US, according to the Illinois Attorney General.

These emails offer $29 Ebola “surplus personal protection kit” that provide “infection defence for emergency response teams”.