Perspective on Ebola

Some of our national news media and some politicians have sensationalized Ebola. Is that reasonable? We cannot know the future. Ebola may eventually become the Halloween trick of the century, but right now it is not. We are frightened by things we do not understand and by things we cannot measure. Politicians attempt to gain influence by promoting fear of “isms.” Once, it was communism. More recently, it is terrorism. An “ism” is completely unmeasurable. Ebola is a new disease, and we are fearful of this unknown thing that we do not yet understand. But the best medical scientists in the United States and elsewhere are working 24/7 to limit the spread of Ebola. It is prudent to be concerned, but fear is unjustified. Put the Ebola disease in perspective.

Each year, from 3000 to around 49,000 Americans die from influenza (flu). Vaccines are available, continuously updated, and sometimes free of charge, but half of us don’t take advantage of the vaccine program. In the 1918-19 influenza pandemic, over 600,000 Americans died. During the past half-century, from 40,000 to 50,000 people died each year in traffic accidents. Now the number is down to around 30,000—just 30,000. Each year about 12,000 people are murdered in the United States. Approximately 17,000 Americans die annually from falling (or the hard landing). Each year, 480,000 Americans die from diseases caused by smoking tobacco. Last year, 82 Americans died in floods, 23 from lightning strikes, 55 in tornados, 42 in winter storms, about 10 people drown each day, and more than 100 die, daily, from prescription drug overdose. 

As of the date that I am writing, one person in U.S. has died from Ebola. Ebola is apparently a potent and very contagious virus. It will likely be with us claiming lives far into the future just as many other diseases such as bubonic plague, cholera, diphtheria, influenza, malaria, measles, pertussis, polio, scarlet fever, smallpox, typhoid, typhus, tuberculosis, and yellow fever. 

Human beings are a global species. We bring plants, animals, viruses, bacteria, and fungi along with us during our travels and commerce. The number of alien “invasive species” introduced in the United States is estimated to be in the tens of thousands including, for example, the Burmese Python in the Florida Everglades. Spanish explorers inadvertently brought diseases to the Central American Indians who had no immunity and no medical scientists to work out solutions. The Indians suffered serious population decline.

Ebola is a new disease, and we are still on a learning curve. Our medical scientists are human and fallible. Our response to hurricane Katrina was bungled. Our Middle East policy is a fiasco. And some of us didn’t make straight (A)s in school. We should expect our response to the Ebola challenge to be reasonable but not perfect.