Remember SARS and Swine flue.....same thing.... the hype went International.
IIRC, SARS scared researchers because they really didn’t know what was going on, and bird/swine flu was always one more mutation away. But talk to infectious disease researchers (and, because of a particular family member, I have), and it is Ebola which is always the real fear. You can call it hype (not without reason, I may add), but this is something that does warrant real concern. An Ebola virus which transmits efficiently prior to the onset of severe symptoms is the disease communities’ worst nightmare (that, coupled with a “don’t worry, be happy” official policy based on the belief that the panic is worse than the disease). Add to the more efficient transmission, the fact that it appears to find a home in a wide variety of animals, and this is not, in my opinion, hype, but rather something more ominous.
There is at least a 10% chance that this goes global in a significant way (just a guestimate, btw). Given the ramifications of such an event, a meaningful and coordinated response is clearly warranted.
The difference being the govt was hyping those two (SARS and SWINE Flu) but are pretty darn quiet about this one.