U.S. hospitals have reported 68 separate Ebola scares in the past three weeks, the CDC said on Wednesday.
None of them turned out to be real.
In fact, the CDC was able to quickly dismiss nearly 90% of the cases as false alarms, given the patients' medical histories and symptoms. (As of press time, doctors were still waiting on bloodwork for two patients.)
That should come as a relief to many Americans, who are generally terrified of Ebola. (More on that in a second.) While Ebola is definitely dangerous, and the worst outbreak in history is raging overseas, there's little threat in the United States.
"There’s no cause for panic," Harvard Humanitarian Initiative Director Michael VanRooyen said last week.
"We have experts who understand the spread of this virus and how to protect the public from it."
Ebola highly dangerous, but outbreak limited to West Africa
But while there's no cause for panic in the United States, that hasn't stopped many Americans.
According to a Harvard School of Public Health poll released on Thursday:
- Almost two-thirds of Americans believe Ebola spreads easily (it doesn't) and nearly 40% are expecting a major outbreak in the United States.
- About 26% of respondents are personally terrified: They're scared that they'll get sick with Ebola or someone in their immediate family will.
So here's what's most important to know — and what many Americans don't realize — about Ebola.
First, Ebola's not like SARS or MERS; it doesn't transmit through casual contact or even by breathing the same air.
"The virus spreads from person to person through intimate contact, such as feces and blood and preparing bodies for burial," VanRooyen said. "This puts health care workers, close family members, and those preparing the dead for burial at risk."
That's also put many West Africans in danger, given the lack of local public health infrastructure. So if you want to be scared — be scared for the thousands of folks in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone who have contracted the disease. (World Health Organization officials and other humanitarian groups have increasingly descended on West Africa to try and gain control of the situation.)
Second, a person isn't contagious with Ebola until its symptoms appear. Unfortunately, those symptoms can sound somewhat common — fever, headache, diarrhea, vomiting — but many cases can be ruled out based on travel history and other factors.
Third, while two Americans were infected with Ebola and brought back to the United States for treatment, they were safely quarantined. (And have since been discharged.)
This isn't to minimize the threat of Ebola, which can have a fatality rate of up to 90%. But there's even a tiny, tiny positive buried within health officials' dire reports: The current Ebola outbreak has been less deadly than outbreaks in the past. Almost 50% of these Ebola patients have survived.
"The outbreak in West Africa is worsening, but CDC, along with other U.S. government agencies and international partners, is taking steps to respond to this rapidly changing situation," CDC said on Friday.
"Ebola poses no substantial risk to the U.S. general population."
—
From the archives:
