How Scared Are You All About Ebola?

One of my Facebook friends recently posted a snarky status update saying that she had accidentally watched some cable news and caught Fearbola.

I think that is a perfect word for what I see people doing. It is not rational nor psychologically healthy to become so wrapped up in it that you can't sleep.

I actually had to tell a friend that the topic is off the table. She had already called me three times in two weeks to freak out over ebola and other illnesses in the news lately. I told her I wouldn't discuss it with her anymore because she was obsessed and paranoid, and I wouldn't enable her to keep freaking out by listening to it.

Same goes for you. Stop obsessing. Stop looking up info. Stop watching cable news. And above all, don't start internet discussions about it because you're just contributing to the spread of Fearbola. It isn't possible for you to be part of the medical solution, but you can at least not be part of the media problem.

you know, i thought about jumping on the Terror Bandwagon. so many people are partying away there, having themselves a big ol' time what-iffing and hand-wringing and working their kids up into a frenzy. and hey! the media is right there, providing the snacks and music!
but i'm old, and that kind of party just doesn't quite appeal to me, i guess. i think i'll stay on the boring old sidelines and be content that obama (he's from africa, so he's responsible for ebola, right?) will find some more efficient way of killing me off.
khairete
S.

Education is the key.

I'm not going to stay awake at night worrying about what might happen...... it doesn't do anything to help me, and the worrying just causes more problems.

I think I am smart enough to take proper precautions like handwashing, etc.....

I probably have a greater chance of some other thing killing me instead of Ebola....

life is too short to spend it worrying needlessly!

Not worried.
I don't respond well to alarmist tactics.
The flu is a MUCH bigger threat to Americans.

There is basically no health/hospital infrastructure in the areas with epidemic proportions if Ebola.

Some info:
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ebola-virus-outbreak/out...

Seriously, if you can't sleep over this? Talk to someone. That's anxiety disorder.

Edited to add:
In response to Ohsohapi, yes, compared to Liberia, America has a strong medical system. This is what Liberia's health care system is like:

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN0G72FC20140807?i...

Yes, the patient in Texas died. Were there mistakes made in his care? It looks probable. But if he had remained in Liberia, he most likely would have died even sooner. And all of his family would probably have contracted it from him. Now that his family and others who were in contact with him have been identified they can be watched and treated immediately. The possibility of them also dieing from Ebola is much less than if they were in Liberia. In Liberia it would probably be likely they would die. Liberia does not have the resources that the American health care system has.

I've never been to a Liberian hospital, but my brother has been to a Tanzanian hospital and I've been in a Honduran hospital. The resources they lack is appalling! In Tanzania, limited if any electricity. Which also means no refrigeration to store medications. My brother knew people in Tanzania who didn't go to the hospital because "everyone who goes to the hospital dies."

In Honduras, I saw family members emptying bed pans and dressing open wounds because of lack of nursing staff. Families had to provide the bedding for the hospital. Very likely that they were not bringing in sanitary bedding. No air conditioning so windows were open with dirt blowing in and bugs of all kinds coming in.

Even at the worst hospital in America you wouldn't see those conditions.
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I'm not at all worried about it. America has a strong medical system. Countries like Liberia have very weak medical systems that are even non-existent in parts of the country. Some people live hours away from any kind of medical facility. They don't have anyone but family and neighbors to care for the ill. They don't have the ability to isolate and quarantine those who are ill.

This is an interesting article about other illnesses that you are more likely to contract in the US.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/six-diseases-actually...

But worrying doesn't do any good. I'm not going to lock my family up. You are much more likely to die in a car accident then to contract Ebola. I am concerned about families in Ebola stricken countries. I know a family in Liberia. I do worry about their safety.

At 46 years of age I no longer pay any attention to the "sky is falling" kinds of news reports. I've made it this far, my kids are practically adults, and life goes on. I've lost loved ones to other incurable diseases, including cancer and AIDS, so I'm not naïve about it, I fully understand that life is fragile and precious, and none of us are immune.
Besides, we live in the safest, healthiest, most scientifically advanced time in human history. Can't ask for much more than that!

I am (sincerely) more concerned about the number of people who carry intense anxiety about unlikely events or situations happening to themselves or their family.

Whether it's contracting an illness like Ebola or Cancer, or fear of other activities/situations that come up in daily life, I think it must feel so soul crushing to live with such debilitating fear.

I've been flip before in my answers to these questions but in all sincerity if you are worried to the point of losing sleep you absolutely need to stop watching news (especially 24 news networks) and reading news websites. Please give yourself an extended break from mass media for the sake of your mental health.

I am more worried about the flu it kills up to 48,000 people in the US each year. Ebola has barely hit 4,000 world wide.

Yes, with all the complications that happen while having the flu it should be the thing we are concerned about protecting ourselves from...getting a flu shot if you can take them for you and your family. Washing your hands and having good hygiene.

Also, the Endovirus 68 worries me a little having a child with asthma. It actually travels like the common cold.

But Ebola...no, and I am right down the freeway from Dallas and we have an international airport here...but it just doesn't worry me. Well, not yet...

Not worried. The flu is a much greater threat and it seems that people on this sit poo poo that every fall and discuss what a waste of time the flu vaccine is. I do get a flu shot.

I don't see how Ebola is the perfect bug. You need either direct contact or contact w/ bodily fluids. You don't shed virus until you are symptomatic. Ebola survives on surfaces for only a few hours and the virus doesn't cause respiratory signs like coughing and sneezing. So how likely are you really to touch a wet surface a sick Ebola victim has just sneezed on (coincidentally having a cold) and then touch your wet hand to your mouth, eyes or open wound?

The media has been ridiculously alarmist about this. The woman I saw on CNN yesterday just could not believe the scientist that she was interviewing that the risk to people in Dallas who had not actually had contact with the victim there was extremely extremely low.

@ JC - AIDS is an over hyped disease? Twenty four MILLION people have died of AIDS. 1.6 million died last year. Thirty-five million are currently living with it.

Being scared is not going to help anything. We have to be cautious, inform ourselves, take common sense precautions without over-reacting. Sort of the way we should live every single day, not just in the face of a very devastating disease.

Worrying does nothing but stress us out (losing sleep) and make us even more susceptible to any sort of illness anyway. If I had the level of anxiety you were describing, I'd be taking a sleeping pill to ensure I got good rest. I'm also in Oregon, so I understand that there is a different level of proximity than you are probably experiencing, so I don't mean to be glib. I don't have any more anxiety about this, some moderate concern, than I have for the fault line we live on or the fact that my husband could get into a car accident in the bad traffic on the way home. Just common sense, thoughtful precautions until I hear that there's a real reason to hold my kid home from school or stop going out in public or whatever other advice the medical community would offer.

Remember, too, that we handle our sick and dead very differently in this country as well.

Not at all. I live in Fort Worth. The news reports generally don't help because people see them over and over and over. The pundits make it worse because they scream about it.

You can't get it unless you are in close contact with someone actively sick with it - mucus membrane to body fluid contact.

It's not "World War Z". The fear about it is more dangerous to the average person than the actual disease.

Not worried in the least.

Frankly, I'm disgusted how the idiot news media chooses to endlessly drag out this Ebola nonsense while ignoring/downplaying far more important issues going on around the world.

My concerns over day to day life are far more realistic, such as making sure my toddler doesn't try and eat chewed gum off the pavement, or managing finances. Ebola is just a ratings driven alarmist load of nonsense.

I'm not at all. I have a small amount of concern about the regular flu since I'm 71. But I'm not scared about that either. I'm just a bit more aware of washing my hands and staying away from sick people. I will get the flu shot. I'm active and in good health. My chances of dying from the flu are next to nothing tho contracting it is possible. In the US the chance of even being exposed to Ebola is unlikely.

I suggest you talk with your doctor about your fears. Perhaps take an anti-anxiety medication. Inability to sleep and constant fear will lower your body's ability to fight off other things to which you're exposed such as colds and flu.

Wasn't this just asked last week? Not worried at all. If this is REALLY keeping you up at night, you must not be able to leave your house every day. Cars are far more dangerous to us than Ebola.

Not at all. I must be naive.

After the elections it will be off the news. Keep in mind one person has died in the US. Flu kills approximately 30,000 every year.

Doesn't really matter if I panic or not - it won't change anything.
Just do the best you can to carry on as normal.
I don't think AIDS is comparable.
Ebola seems to be killing a lot faster.
AIDS can give you a long withering away death and doesn't transfer from person to person as easily.
The combined effects of ebola, AIDS, that drug resistant TB in Asia and a swine or bird flu could become a real problem - not to mention the cholera and other problems that pop up when you have more bodies than you can dispose of in a timely fashion.
This health insurance mis-mash we have is never going to hold up under this.
We need a single payer system where every citizen is covered without all the red tape and paper work.
It seems we are cursed to live in interesting times.

I hadn't heard that this (the disease and/or the media coverage of it) is an election ploy to get people to vote one way or the other.
Check out the BBC or other countries media if you don't like ours.

AIDS kills 1,600,000 people every year... malaria kills 600,000 people a year.
Ebola has killed less than 4,000 people.. what is the biggest risk???

ebola is big and new and newsworthy.. old boring AIDS doesn't get much press. however.. none of these diseases are a real risk to boring married folks in the USA... we should worry about influenza... that is a risk to us here..

Frankly, as a spouse of a healthcare worker, I'm concerned. A nurse just tested positive for ebola. She took all of the precautions and is still testing positive at this point.

I am not concerned, as I am not going to a nation that has an outbreak.

No fear here.
I'm not in contact with body fluids from sick people.

AIDS was an overhyped disease too. (I remember them teaching us in HS almost 30 years ago that within the next few years our live will all be impacted by AIDS...never happened). Not the least bit concerned and certainly not worth losing sleep over.

I am not that concerned about Ebola (unless the family members of the Dallas case come down with it too). The CDC should have started more aggressive airport screening several months ago for anyone that had visited an African nation in the Ebola crises. But I am concerned about the panic that it is creating in certain places- planes and healthcare facilities. I am more concerned with the Enterovirus D68 that is spreading across the country. On Sept 9, there were 4 confirmed cases and 12 states had contacted the CDC to check on this bad respiratory virus. On Oct 9 there were 691 confirmed cases in 46 states. A little boy has died from this virus. The D68 virus was discovered in the 1960's and until now - less than 100 cases had been reported in 50+ years. So where is IT coming from and how do we control IT?? And it is flu season -- that is all going to put a tremendous demand on our hospital facilities. AIDS has a much longer incubation time period and now there are some very effective medications to treat it.

I think we're going to see a lot of cases. I think because of the incubation period it will be hard to contain.

I think it is paramount we keep our immune systems healthy. I am telling my family we have to be conscientious to wash our hands, not share any drinks etc. My teenage daughter has a friend who was recently diagnosed with mono and told her she caught it because she drank after one of her friends who was sick. It was perfect timing to remind her that's a great example of why we don't share drinks/food/etc with our friends. We travel a lot and I am taking charge of wiping down my own tables with a 5% bleach water.

I have a person close to me who works at Presbyterian where the patient died. They are being told that it's more difficult to catch this virus than one of the hepatitis strains and that their normal decontamination stuff is more than adequate.

Ultimately it is scary. I believe we're being lied to on many levels. I will not live in fear but I also have my eyes wide open. This virus can live on surfaces. I believe a lot of people will spread it unaware and a small percentage will spread it purposely.

If you are not able to sleep at night I would suggest limiting your viewing on it. Maybe allow yourself 10-15 minutes to catch up then put it away. Don't watch the news before you go to bed. I will tell you I used to work for a police department in the metroplex and we would have media briefings. I can't tell you how many times I watched it on the local news and could barely recognize how the media represented what actually took place.

Try to concentrate on your blessings and know you are not helpless.

Blessings!
L.

Me - not scared.

?? 16 yo son who plays Xbox and Plague games....very fascinated, almost excited about being on the verge of a real Zombie Apocalypse.

Good friend who is head of Infectious Disease at our local hospital...says we are well prepared.

I am not scared, but we are not immune from it. It seems like a matter of time before it gets here.

honestly, I haven't even really thought much about it

I am concerned since 4000 people have died from this and that the WHO doesn't even know how many have been infected (you can look up that data). It is scary but it is best to not panic.

I stay prepared for storms hitting Florida but lately I have been stocking up on extra food, water, etc. I would rather be prepared for something then not be prepared for anything. I figure if they start to quarantine people/areas I will have enough to stay on my property for weeks.

Here are my thoughts on it: The current estimation is that about 63,000,000 people (or 2/10 of the U.S. population) per year get the flu. Of those, about 48,000 may die, or about .08 percent of the people who come down with it. As in, not even a tenth of one percent of those who get sick with the flu die. So, yes, 48,000 sounds like a big number, but if you look at it in percentages, your odds of surviving the flu are extremely high, and your odds of catching it aren't that bad.

Your odds of catching ebola aren't bad either. In West Africa, the World Health Organization estimates about 7400 people have contracted the disease. That's less than one tenth of one percent of the total population. Here's the difference, though, between ebola and flu. Of those who contract ebola in Africa, there is a 45 percent chance of dying from it, which is almost 50/50 chances of surviving. I don't know about you, but I like my chances with the flu a lot better.

By the way, I should add that the World Health Organization believes there may be 2 to 3 times that number who have actually been sick and died. Due to reporting problems, they believe the numbers to be much greater. In fact, in one report, they stated it is possible that up to 10,000 people have died, which is much higher than the total number of sick who have been reported.

So, am I scared of catching ebola? Not necessarily. I believe that basic health, hygiene, and sanitation in our country will probably do a lot to delay and prevent the spread of ebola in the U.S.. But if it continues to pop up in the U.S., either through people like Thomas Duncan who flee countries where the outbreak is severe seeking medical care or those who come here not realizing they are sick (since the incubation period is up to 21 days), I think we could see some communities hit by it pretty hard by it.

"America has a strong medical system." Really? Cuz the guy that came here with Ebola has already died in the care of American medicine.

I'm having a hard time with this. Dallas is just a couple of hours from me and Deaconess Hospital in OKC is just a few miles from me. There is a person in there that is suspected to have Ebola. That person in my town has been IN my town and out in public spreading his germs.

This terrifies me. My hands are so dried out from washing and washing. I've gone to Walmart several times and use the sanitary wipes on the handle then used 2 more because I was worried.

What I've found is this. IF it gets here we're likely to have an outbreak. It's deadly and if you do live through it you're horribly scarred for the rest of your life. It has a 90% death rate though. If the flu was that deadly it would worry everyone else that has commented below a heck of a lot more.

I am not locking myself in the house and hiding though, I'm out doing normal stuff but doing it a bit differently. Like washing my hands a LOT more.

There are so many ways to get this. The virus can live outside the human body up to 4 days. So if you go in Walmart and grab a cart that someone sneezed across and they had the Ebola virus in their system then their mist from their sneeze has left billions of the Ebola virus on that cart for you to touch, even though it might be 3 days later. Then move a hair out of your face and then rub the tip of your nose cause the hair tickled it....you're exposed now too.

This disease has been pretty much local to the countries where the bats that carry it live. They don't fly over the oceans so it's kept over there...not over "here". People have been dying over in these countries and we've been thinking we're better than they are, we have running water, better medical care, and more. But the truth is we could have had it at any time.

Stopping flights won't help. We're a global civilization now. All someone would have to do is fly to a different country then get a ticket here.

We have to think about this and how we're going to combat it on a personal level. Washing hands and being aware of where your hands have been and what your skin is in contact with can really help you to be a bit safer.

I am not only concerned about Ebola in Europe, Brazil and the USA--but also concerned about it in Africa...

I'm more scared of the Enterovirus 68 :(