Fear Mongering, 101

On the bus weekday mornings, I chat with a woman going to the same destination. She's a medical research scientist, and last Wednesday she began bringing up the subject of Ebola. Immunology is not her field, and it wasn't as a medical topic that it was on her mind: of course it was the sudden prominence in US media of the West African epidemic prompting this.

Next morning, same topic. I had to say that that, so far in this country, one caregiver has gotten sick, after her hospital's mismanagement of an infected patient. As serious a concern as epidemic prevention is, the US numbers don't warrant the public's level of fear. And that fear is thanks to the same media that won't look at an ongoing public health issue like the staggering number of gun deaths.

My seatmate agreed—then reminded me her son has been traveling to medical school interviews, and she's concerned about his going through airports. It's an understandable reaction, and I hoped I hadn't sounded harsh.

Still, it's depressing how fast and effective the fear mongering is, and how it works just as well on people who might be expected to stop, think, and remember some facts.

At least my fellow bus rider was able to see some context beyond the headlines. Most of our fellow 'Murkans aren't likely to be exposed to facts, certainly not when those only get in the way of a politically profitable panic.

Steve M. makes a noble effort to clue in the media—

I know that, by now, much of America probably thinks that "we don't really know" what the incubation period is, just as they think "we don't really know" how Ebola is transmitted. But no matter what they think, they need to be reminded that there are no non-medical personnel who've contracted Ebola via Thomas Eric Duncan. Not his relatives. Not his fiancee. Not the people at the apartment complex where he was staying. ...
...
... I have to think that some people would understand if they were reminded that the disease is being transmitted pretty much exactly the way the authorities have always thought it's transmitted, and isn't being transmitted ambiently, just as the experts told us.

Ebola was discovered in 1976. Do most Americans know that -- know that scientists have had 38 years to figure out what it does? Could the press please remind the public of the fact that this virus hasn't been a mystery to scientists for decades?

The Dallas hospital grossly mishandled the first US victim's condition. Yves Smith quotes the BBC—

This is a crude, and damning, statistic but so far Medecins sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders) has treated thousands of people in West Africa with Ebola, and has seen 16 medical workers contract the disease. This hospital in Dallas has treated just one patient, and has two sick healthcare staff.

Smith's post introduces an article by Roy Poses, MD, which "goes into considerable, damning detail about the considerable mismanagement of Duncan's case and how it demonstrates how short-sighted it is to have MBAs run hospitals. These details have become public despite a gag order having apparently been put in place on the staff of the hospital that treated the first patient, hospital, Texas Health Presbyterian. Imagine what we don't yet know."

Poses oulines the predictable results of cost-cutting: Duncan's being left alone, but in an area where others were exposed; management resistance to placing him in an isolation unit, despite a nurse supervisor's insistence; lab samples sent through normal procedures, possibly contaminating the hospital's entire tube system.

Despite hospital gag orders against nurses, some brave ones got the story out—via some unionized sisters. One nurse also spoke directly.

And a week ago, Roy Edroso calling "...War on Science, Only Dumber"—

National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins, probably annoyed that Republicans who couldn't give two shits about medical research are whooping up Ebola like it's an STD Obama is giving to white women, came out and said that budget cuts to the NIH have adversely impacted their development of a vaccine.