Nov. 4, 2014
Royal Purple Editorial Staff Opinion
A pounding headache. A flush of heat before an uncomfortable chill. Every muscle in your body aching miserably. These are the symptoms that can be paired with seasonal influenza, but also with the disease striking terror across the country.
Ebola.
From the moment news of the first American citizen testing positive hit the air, a feeling of concern has been looming. Citizens are afraid. The devastation in Africa has induced hysteria.
People are beginning to believe that an outbreak of the deadly virus could cause a zombie-like apocalypse.
This is just imagination running wild.
The chance of contracting the Ebola virus in America is just one in 13.3 million, according to an article on the National Public Radio website. Our population rests at 319 million, which means approximately 24 people are bound to contract it.
Additionally, death caused by a bee sting is more common than getting Ebola. Even getting struck by lightning is more likely to happen, not that that information is at all encouraging.
Despite the numerous amount of threats that are far more likely than Ebola, this virus has gotten a lot of U.S. citizens in a fuss. Most people don’t fear bees because they think they’ll die from them; they fear the unpleasant encounter of getting stung.
In terms of Ebola, though, a single sneeze is sometimes enough to cause a panic.
Even students across UW-Whitewater have been showing up in the health center with flu-like symptoms and worrying about the possibility of Ebola. The hysteria has reached as far as Wisconsin despite there being no documented cases on record.
Why are we so concerned about a virus that we have low chances of contracting when there are other threats that we brush off like nothing but a bit of dust? If people are going to worry so much about Ebola, then they might as well be worrying about every common illness.
The odds of dying from influenza are one in 345,000. Yet, apparently one in 13.3 million is far more daunting. America needs to get its priorities straight.
In 2010, about 50 million Americans were infected with the flu, according to infectious disease specialist Kent Sepkowitz. This happened over the course of a few months, which qualifies the spread as an outbreak.
The slow-moving, less common virus of Ebola is the cause of horror that’s been sweeping the nation, however.
UW-Whitewater has little to fear on this front. In fact, the entirety of America has little to fear.
The U.S. is putting an effort toward sterilizing the virus and consequently keeping its citizens healthy. While the virus has become a threat in Africa, the terrified people across America need to remember where we are.
We have the ability to prevent an outbreak.
With this in mind, America’s citizens need to put some trust into their healthcare. They need to understand that, unlike Africa, we have the means of better care and sterilization here. It won’t so easily spread as long as the infected are dealt with properly.
Mistakes happen, of course. There are leaks in the system and we don’t live in a perfect world, but the healthcare workers are doing all in their power to keep citizens safe and prevent any possible outbreak there could be.
Evidence suggests an outbreak isn’t all that possible with how things are being handled, however.
If America wants to worry, then we should be worrying about illnesses that are much more of a threat than Ebola is. We need to be educated about the risks before we get in a panic about something that can be prevented through safe measures.
