Ebola overreaction?

[pathstudent]

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I have spent ten hours this week in meetings about Ebola preparation. Our hospitals has a good plan if one person shows up with symptoms and a possible exposure. However if ten showed up,our plan is worthless.

While I agree it is a serious disease, I think we are losing perspective.

Ebola has officially killed no more than 5000 people over the last few months. Malaria kills on average 3000 kids a day. No one is concerned about that at all.

 

[WEBB PINKERTON]

The media, like usual, is causing this overreaction. Why did they think it was necessary to show the patients being transported to Maryland and Georgia?

You can't prepare for everything. Use universal precautions and hope for the best.

 

[coroner]

I'm on the infection control committee at my hospital and we're having our meeting(s) next week which I don't think is going to do a whole lot of good, but s.o.p. anyways. I think there is some overreaction, because of the media and we tend to live in a sensationalistic society that capitalizes on our insecurities and fears. I agree that it has been blown out out of proportion.

But, comparing Ebola to malaria is like apples & oranges. Ebola has a fatality rate around 70-80% vs malaria which is at most around 20% for the worse types without tx. i.e. if you get Ebola, chances are you're dead... Also, malaria isn't contagious and the mosquitos carrying it aren't reaching the U.S. The CDC gave a worst case projection of upwards of 1 million people dying from the current outbreak, granted most of them will be in West Africa and those numbers wouldn't project to affect populations outside that area. But if no one seems to be concerned about malaria, ask why would they be as long as it stays in some third world country and doesn't come their way? Also, Ebola is the sexy thing to report: makes for better headlines, movies, books, etc.