Ah yes, theres the fear-mongering click-bait about Ebola I knew would be coming soon. Ebola sounds crazy scary, and so the media is going to capitalize on that. So heres what you need to know about whats going on so you dont start freaking out about this being the start of a Bruce Willis movie. For starters, the reason this made news is because Ebola is primarily seen in Central and East Africa and this outbreak was occurring in West Africa. Historically Ebola was contained well due to distance but this outbreak occurred within an urban area, thus the larger than average number of people who showed signs of infection. This *is* this worst Ebola outbreak in recorded history, the click-bait is legitimately right about that. However, Ebola is actually very difficult to spread. The virus exists in bodily fluids and does not live very long outside the body (though will stay virulent in a dead host for some time). The people at risk are people taking care of sick people (family members, doctors, aid workers, etc.) and people burying the dead. The important thing to remember is that the virus is *not* spread through coughing and sneezing, only through blood and other secretions. The likelihood that an infected person spreads this to a plane full of people is incredibly unlikely. But lets say the worst-case scenario happens and someone on US or European soil ends up infected. We know how to deal with Ebola, where West Africa was ill-equipped to deal with an outbreak. In areas of Africa where people are well trained in dealing with Ebola, outbreaks are usually contained fairly quickly. Really though if you want one fact to comfort you in this, its that diarrhea on average kills more people *per day* than Ebola has killed in recorded history. Yes this is a deadly disease but its success rate at becoming a new plague is pretty low. Dont give in to click-bait.
Posted on: Fri, 01 Aug 2014 18:44:27 +0000