Ebola Scare?

The Ebola virus has been around since 1976, even before the AIDS virus and there have been outbreaks every year since then. The current media sensationalism IS NOT helping this situation in any way since they are using pure scare tactics to sell their product... newspapers, newsmagazines and television and radio time, nothing else.

While this year's outbreak of Ebola virus is clearly the largest since the virus was discovered, and maybe larger than all the past outbreaks combined IT IS NOT ANYWHERE NEAR EPIDEMIC.

The World Health Organisation defines an EPIDEMIC as a disease that affects 7.7% of a population or more. In any of the countries currently experiencing outbreaks there rate is LESS THAN ONE ONE HUNDREDTH OF A PERCENT of the population.

Like AIDS, Ebola is spread through direct physical contact with an infected individual, body fluids and the corpses of infected individuals. There has never been any proof that it is an airborne virus that can be contracted by close proximity and breathing in particulate matter in the air. NONE!!!!

So unless you're a healthcare provider, a funeral service worker or other individual who comes into direct physical contact with Ebola victims you have virtually ZERO chance of contracting the disease.

I don't know what the PERSONAL AGENDA behind all the media scare tactics about Ebola is, but it is clear that there is really a secret agenda. Is it just to sell papers? Is it to drum up donations for charities dealing with helping the sick? Who knows? The only thing that is certain is that NOBODY is telling the truth about this disease. They are all trying to generate unnecessary panic among the general public and I simply can't figure out why... that does far more harm than the disease ever could.

Wjwoodward,

This was a responsible and very good explanation on the current crisis, and fully agree with you. Myself a PHD Chemical Engineer with lots of medical training, view this crisis in a similar way. I will be in Nigeria next week (lagos and been there many times) as part of my employments and will stay for a few months at a time. I guess the scary part of all this is when you leave the aircraft for Nigerian immigration - through to collecting your baggage and getting collected by your driver. Once in the car and thinking about a coffee and tea and a movie on TV before bed, Ebola is no longer in your mind.

Thanks for the reassuring words.

I live in Kigali. Ebola is not really an issue of note here. Rwanda has some travel bans in place (the three big Ebola countries right now), for a little while included daily reporting for anybody from the U.S. (no longer the case), takes your temperature and makes you fill out a questionnaire when entering the country, and the paper keeps talking about MOH training health care workers and now a dedicated hospital just in case, but not something most people are talking about or of much concern.