Fear of the Ebola outbreak has taken hold of America.
Symptoms of the ravaging illness include fever, muscle pain, vomiting, unexplained hemorrhages, and severe headaches.
The arrival of the states’ first patient suffering from Ebola, Thomas Eric Duncan, and his later death has caused widespread panic.
Although the first 48 people who came into contact with Duncan have been cleared, the stigma sparked by the first Ebola outbreak in the U.S. is still apparent.

Some New Trier students have shared fears of contracting the disease through their parents, some of whom work as health professionals in one of the world’s biggest cities.
The Chicago Department of Aviation (CDA) reports that a total of 46,700,454 passengers have flown in and out of O’Hare International Airport between January 2014 and August 2014.
The fears of Ebola making its way to Chicago have some grounding when one thinks about how much traffic the city gets, however, they are being exaggerated more than they need to be.
The reproductive rate of Ebola is calculated to rest nearly at 2.0, meaning that one person infected with Ebola will infect two more. The numbers add up fast, and many base their fears on the possibility of Ebola becoming airborne.

Ebola as a disease is scary—that’s something that I believe almost everyone could agree upon. With that said, the fear that we show for Ebola is based on illogical arguments.
The CDC states that 4,546 people around the world have died from the most recent Ebola outbreak, a relatively small number in comparison to 50,000, which is the number of deaths seasonal influenza can cause per year in the U.S. alone.
I find it interesting that while everyone is frightened about catching Ebola, no one fears something as common as seasonal influenza, which is contracted by approximately 5-20% of Americans each year.
The average number of people killed by the flu, over the past ten seasons, comes to 32,743 deaths. It is estimated by the CDC that over 200,000 people are hospitalized with flu related symptoms each year.

The symptoms may not seem as severe; a cough, having a sore throat, stuffy nose, chills, fatigue, vomiting, and feeling aches. However, the flu has proven more deadly over the course of human history than Ebola has.
Certainly these are shocking statistics, but even more shocking is the percentage of American adults who choose to not be vaccinated—only 46 percent of Americans received vaccinations against the flu during the 2013-2014 flu season, reports the CDC and the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID).

The best protection against illness is prevention. Although there are no vaccines on the market to prevent Ebola, or drugs to battle Ebola-ridden people, there are a few being tested.

So instead of freaking out about Ebola, look at the numbers. When gathering information about Ebola, and any illness for that matter, refer to research conducted by credible sources.
Panic brings only more panic, we need to come to the realization that Ebola is like every other disease, and should be approached in the same respect.