The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is sadly raging on with 3,400 casualties, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). But even worse than the spread of the virus itself is the spread of rumors and superstitions about Ebola, which is making it difficult to discern fiction from fact.
Sensational headlines on social media scream misinformation that the virus spreads through undercooked meat, or is contracted from sitting next to a sneezy passenger on a plane. Some lies even suppose Ebola victims rise from the dead like zombies.
Lack of information, and even worse, misinformation, is actually more dangerous than the Ebola virus itself. The distortion of facts about a contagious disease can lead to violence, mistrust and fear.
The first confirmed case of a U.S. citizen being diagnosed with Ebola in Texas proved to worsen some people's fear of the outbreak spreading -- a scenario that is highly unlikely, according to experts.
According to a Tweet by Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the "U.S. has a strong healthcare system & dedicated public health professionals to ensure TX #Ebola case can be limited."
This is important to remember. The very reason why Ebola went out of control in West Africa in the first place is because there is no infrastructure to handle the outbreak, and aid did not come quickly enough to contain it. That is not the case in the U.S., which has professionals and facilities to nip any outbreak in the bud.
In addition, local burial customs, superstitions about Ebola being a curse, and fear of the masked health officials who only want to help are making Ebola harder to contain in West Africa.
As the isolated case in the U.S. is reported and monitored closely, experts agree that an outbreak is not likely to occur. It would, however, help to know the top three important facts about Ebola:
It is not airborne.
You can't get it from water.
You can't get it from food.
The only way you can catch the Ebola infection is if you touch the bodily fluids of a person who is already displaying symptoms of the disease.
With those in mind, you can easily separate fact from fiction, truth from sensationalism, and help curb the spread of falsehood about Ebola.
