Free Republic

As a rule, one should not panic at whatever crisis has momentarily fixed the attention of cable news producers. But the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, which has migrated to both Europe and America, may be the exception that proves the rule. There are at least six reasons that a controlled, informed panic might be in order. (1) Start with what we know, and don’t know, about the virus. Officials from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and other government agencies claim that contracting Ebola is relatively difficult because the virus is only transmittable by direct contact with bodily fluids...

Can you catch Ebola on a crowded bus or train if you are standing next to someone who is infected? What if that person sneezes or coughs on you? If the person has symptoms, the answer could be yes.

What do you know about Ebola? You probably are aware that it's a nasty, often fatal form of a viral hemorrhagic fever. You may also know that the current outbreak occured last December in Guinea, and that it has spread to Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leona and Nigeria. And unless you have lived under a rock for the past 24 hours, you also know that it has spread to the United States--Texas, to be specific. But here's a list of what you may not know, including how the Ebola virus impacts economies and supply chains, issurance issues including evacuation, exposures and...

Ebola virus disease Fact sheet N°103Updated September 2014 Key facts Ebola virus disease (EVD), formerly known as Ebola haemorrhagic fever, is a severe, often fatal illness in humans. The virus is transmitted to people from wild animals and spreads in the human population through human-to-human transmission.The average EVD case fatality rate is around 50%. Case fatality rates have varied from 25% to 90% in past outbreaks.The first EVD outbreaks occurred in remote villages in Central Africa, near tropical rainforests, but the most recent outbreak in west Africa has involved major urban as well as rural areas.Community engagement is key to...

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 Centers for Disease Control edited its Ebola prevention fact page on September 19. A note at the bottom of the page says as much. cdc-ebola-1 So what was changed? Here is the top of the page as it reads now, after the edit. (Snip) As you can see, the CDC edited out the following text on Sept 19: Because we still do not know exactly how people are infected with Ebola, few primary prevention measures have been established and no vaccine exists. When cases of the disease do appear, risk of transmission is increased within healthcare settings. Therefore, healthcare...

Health Canada apparently changing the facts about the nature of the Ebola virus.

Benjamin Hale, Slate September 20, 2014 As the Ebola epidemic in West Africa has spiraled out of control, affecting thousands of Liberians, Sierra Leonians, and Guineans, and threatening thousands more, the world’s reaction has been glacially, lethally slow. Only in the past few weeks have heads of state begun to take serious notice. To date, the virus has killed more than 2,600 people. This is a comparatively small number when measured against much more established diseases such as malaria,HIV/AIDS, influenza, and so on, but several factors about this outbreak have some of the world’s top health professionals gravely concerned: Its...