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The Ebola Craze

While we mustn't take Ebola lightly, it really amazes me how news channels have blown the situation completely out of proportion and how many people have started panicking as a result. Unless a person is traveling from West Africa or has had direct contact with a person whom is suffering from the condition, there's nothing to worry about.

As Ohio Department of Health (ODH) state epidemiologist Dr. Mary DiOrio recently stated, "Only individuals who travel to or from West Africa, where the Ebola outbreak is occurring, or individuals in close contact with someone ill with Ebola [need to worry about getting sick]."

Let's put things in their proper perspective for a second here. In 2010, here were the leading causes of death in this country:

1) Heart disease: 596,577

2) Cancer: 576,691

3) Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 142,943

4) Accidents (unintentional injuries): 126,438

5) Alzheimer's disease: 84,974

6) Diabetes: 73,831

7) Influenza and Pneumonia: 53,826

8) Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 45,591

In 2013, there were a total of 32,351 deaths via firearms.

To this point, there has been 1 reported death in this country via Ebola, and a total of 3 people whom have contracted it.

Yes, while we should take the Ebola threat seriously, why are some people, news networks, and politicians panicking and going paranoid about a condition which has directly affected three people and killed one in this country to this point, and been seemingly indifferent about the 32,351 people whom died of gun violence last year? Or the tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of people whom die every year of far more common health conditions, such as heart disease and cancer? Wouldn't our time, energy, and money be much better spent on trying to decrease the number of deaths of far more common causes of it? It seems pretty ridiculous for the following reactions to occur when comparing Ebola to something which resulted in far more casualties:

Event: Sandy Hook school shooting (27 people were shot and killed)

Citizens: "Oh no! That's so sad!"

The news: "Unfortunately, this kind of thing happens far too often anymore in this country."

Politicians: "What will passing stricter laws do? Guns don't kill people; people kill people - over 30,000 with guns!"


Event: Ebola (3 people contract it and 1 person dies)

Citizens/The news/Politicians (in unison): "Oh no! We're all gonna die!!!"

http://www.cleveland.com/healthfit/index.ssf/2014/10/ebola_should_not_be_a_concern.html

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/leading-causes-of-death.htm

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/injury.htm

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