> Yet despite nearly 1000 deaths and infection in major population centers people on FR and from the govt say it’s no big deal.
> I think we should worry.
If some new Mallard Duck Flu comes out of China and there are 5 cases with a low lethality, then we hear about it like it is the heralding of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse; but if it comes out of Africa with a thousand cases and it has a lethality of 60 or 70% then it is not politically correct, so they hide the information and try to not say anything.
There’s that but some people dismiss anything from africa because it’s such a mess.
There are huge differences between influenza and Ebola. Ebola is not spread through airborne means, but through direct contact with fluids, including droplets. While droplet transmission is similar to airborne, its range is limited; a person sitting on the opposite side of the room from an Ebola patient is unlikely to get sick. Ebola is also only contagious during symptomatic disease...well, it does persist in some bodily fluids, but it takes close personal contact to be exposed to those fluids.
Avian influenza is not transmissible except through close contact. It has a high death rate similar to that of Ebola. Where it differs is that influenza viruses exchange genes with each other, and mutate rapidly. A highly lethal influenza virus can, through mutation or gene trading, become a true airborne virus. Influenza is also contagious before symptoms appear and after they clear up. Once a highly lethal form of contagious influenza emerges and spreads beyond its point of origin, there is no way to stop it from spreading globally.
That is why there is continuing worry over avian influenza, while the Ebola outbreak is considered more of a public health emergency affecting Africa. Ebola is not likely to become highly contagious through the air, ever.