Why would anyone panic over a very ill person

[lapfog_1]

47. Ebola is a Class-4 pathogen

the highest level there is.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosafety_level#List_of_BSL-4_facilities

We, as the human race, need to be aware of it and study it carefully.

If it were to ever mutate to an airborne virus (like the flu), we should be very scared of it.

You, as an individual, do not need to be scared of Ebola. You have to encounter the body fluids (blood, vomit, etc) of someone infected... in the last stages of the infection... to catch it.

that said, it does tend to kill the human hosts... this one at around 60% of those infected, other strains have seen up to 90% lethality.

So far, our only defense is quarantine. And in Africa, with substandard measures on isolating victims from their families when sick or from even hospital workers... or when dead and the body is handled by family or funeral workers... we haven't always been successful at quarantine.

Still, I'm glad that the CDC are treating the two infected US health care workers as a serious risk, not that I believe the doctor or volunteer would even have allowed themselves to be transferred back to the US without the special facility and travel arrangements being utilized... and I'm glad for their sake that they are back here where they have, probably, the best chance to survive.