Ebola is a virus with symptoms of fever, vomiting and sore throat. People begin to bleed internally and can die six to sixteen days after symptoms. This is also associated with fear; the more pain with a disease, the scarier it is to us. Ebola has been the headline of the news for the past month now and has scared the entire country. The reason people are so terrified of Ebola is because it is new and unknown. People aren't as familiar with it as they are with influenza. Things that are unknown are even more terrifying and fear is contagious. That is why the media isn't helping with the hysteria. The media is helping fuel the fire on everyone's fear because people aren't completely informed on how unlikely it is that they will contract Ebola. You are just as likely to die from influenza or the common cold.
Yes, it is scary that Ebola has come to the United States but it is not airborne. It is spread through blood and bodily fluids. It is also scary that there is not a current treatment, and that the man who contracted it from Texas has died. I have read that people being scared of contracting and dying from Ebola is as equivalent to being fearful they will die in a car accident. It was first identified in Sudan so it is foreign and scary to us. The fact that there is no cure is another factor to the fear because we have no control over it, because there is no cure for Ebola. This is just a hysteria that will soon pass. People are actually making jokes and memes about it so clearly not everyone is so terrified. It isn't the next Ebola apocalypse, it will pass. Wash your hands, and say your prayers.
