By Enrique Gonzalez | Contributing Writer
The 2014 Ebola outbreak is the largest recorded epidemic of the disease in history. The exact genesis point of the outbreak is still being researched, but it is well accepted at this point that it originated from the West African region, in the countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
Due to the elusiveness of the disease during the beginning stages, transmission is fairly subtle. Ebola gets passed down by contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person. This cycle repeats, as is the case in any epidemic. Ebola, however, garnered much more news coverage than originally expected when the disease made its way into the United States and has become very well known across many channels.
As is the case with modern media, once the United States becomes affected by anything, it must become global news. The news outlets of America made it a point to scare the general population by exacerbating Ebola, making it seem not as controlled as it actually is.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has actually done a fantastic job in containment within the states; the states affected have actually done an even better job at providing overseas help. The problem with containing this disease overseas falls under our inability to adequately protect international borders. It is through this reason that I find the media to overhype this story.
Ebola, much like H1N1, is affecting the global community at a faster rate than our own country. The United States possesses one of the finest medical facilities in the modern world, so for a disease which we know how to treat to have this much of a psychological effect on the general population is astounding.
One particular point behind what I find to be the fear in our society over Ebola is just how little information the public is receiving on this disease. All it takes is one person with some form of credibility to incite terror in a target audience. News outlets, in my opinion, take advantage of this kind of situation in an effort to increase the viewing numbers.
Not many people actually care about real humanitarian causes overseas, but throw a little bug from Africa in there, make it come to the United States and essentially kill someone with it and now we have hysteria. Thomas Duncan, the unexpected martyr of our tale, and thus far the onlyconfirmed death in the Ebola epidemic in the US, managed to show us one thing: We are still afraid of what we don’t understand, and the media does little to actually educate the public.
The chances of one actually acquiring and subsequently developing the Ebola virus are incredibly slim. However, the real problem lies in the mortality rate for Ebola, which currently stands at roughly 50 percent, but can vary between 25 to 90 percent.
What the media should begin doing, rather than create fear, is educate. Tell the people the reassuring statistics of the disease that seem to be ignored constantly and how even in Africa there are containment practices already in place to control the outbreak even more. The global community deserves to know that they are safe, more so than knowing they’re at risk.
Contact: steph.piedrahita@fiusm.com
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