Free Republic

The circle of people who have come into contact with Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan is rapidly expanding, jumping from 18 to 80 early today and then leaping to 100, according to Texas health officials.

The so-called prepper community has a long list of concerns—and for quite some time Ebola has been near the top of it. Experts, though, are split on whether the confirmation that the disease has entered the U.S. will spur a rush in equipment sales. Even as awareness of doomsdayers grows thanks to a reality series on the National Geographic Channel, sales of supplies like canned food and hand-cranked flashlights had actually begun to level off before Tuesday. And since Ebola has been on the community's radar for so long, many people have already stocked up. "I think that a lot...

Ebola panic has spread all the way to the United States, even though the possibility of it actually spreading across American shores is dismally low. People might be better off preparing for the chikungunya virus, which has been reported several times throughout the southern United States — including a third case recently reported in the Dallas area, according to CBS. Chikungunya virus has hit the hardest in the Central American and Caribbean countries of El Salvador and the Dominican Republican. Although exact number are unavailable for the Dominican, El Salvadorian officials are reporting that there are currently 30,000 cases...