# Why the liberal 'pooh-poohing' of the Ebola danger? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 4, 2014, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-liberal-pooh-poohing-of-the-ebola-danger/700388 "2014-10-04T16:33:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Ramira](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ramira/32/344_2.png) [@Ramira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ramira)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-liberal-pooh-poohing-of-the-ebola-danger/700388/81 "2014-10-05T19:13:21Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > since Nigeria, which is apparently more westernized and better developed, The Nigeria is _ **not** _ “more westernised” than either the Liberia or the Sierre Leone. It does have better government and better health care systems. Not even good ones only better than the extremely bad states of the Liberia and the Sierre Leone which have never recovered fully from the nearly twenty years of civil war. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-liberal-pooh-poohing-of-the-ebola-danger/700388/82 "2014-10-05T19:20:46Z")
If I wanted to wring my hands over something mutating and killing us all I’d be worried about swine or bird flu. Conservatives have stronger [fear responses](http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2012/09/03/conservatives-and-liberals-have-different-brains-studies-show/) compared to liberals, particularly due to differences in the amygdala and the anterior cingulate cortex. Except for where it butts heads with monied interests – global warming, corporate malfeasance – I think this explains their stance on a lot of issues in general. > [@Dangerosa](#): > > It is far more likely that rather than people sneaking in from Mexico with this virus that it will infect people in France - which has a large African population and fairly open travel. And that the secondary vector would be Europe - because lots of Africans visit Europe - lots live in Europe - and lots of Europeans visit Africa. (Particularly France, which held a lot of the region in question as colonies at one time). But that doesn’t fit the “close the boarders” narrative Fox wants. No, that’s perfect. They’d love to rag on France again. Or make fun of Europe’s lax borders and socialized healthcare. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-liberal-pooh-poohing-of-the-ebola-danger/700388/83 "2014-10-05T19:45:36Z")
> [@GrumpyBunny](#): > > Anyway, from a medical perspective, I think we haven’t seen enough to know if it’s going to be a large problem in the US. We chit-chat about this at my office – there are doctors and **pubic health geeks** in my area, so people aren’t exactly just talking out of their asses. Is that a fetish or a hobby? Surely it’s not a job description, is it? ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-liberal-pooh-poohing-of-the-ebola-danger/700388/84 "2014-10-05T23:29:45Z")
Do diseases become airborne very often? I always thought that was just a plot element from Outbreak (great film, BTW, Dale Dye is in it, playing the same character Dale Dye plays in every movie he’s in, which just so happens to be one of my favorite characters). ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-liberal-pooh-poohing-of-the-ebola-danger/700388/85 "2014-10-05T23:39:53Z")
I think it’s just straight forward politics-- Ebola is pretty scary, and people are trying to pin that on the administration somehow. If they had done a full-on lockdown, we’d be hearing all about how Ebola is just an excuse for destroying civil liberties and they are keeping the people in quarantine hostage, etc. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-liberal-pooh-poohing-of-the-ebola-danger/700388/86 "2014-10-05T23:41:47Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > I suppose no one there has looked at a map. Or better still, a globe. – It is the people in Maine who should really be worrying. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-liberal-pooh-poohing-of-the-ebola-danger/700388/87 "2014-10-05T23:45:29Z")
> [@marshmallow](#): > > Conservatives have stronger [fear responses](http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2012/09/03/conservatives-and-liberals-have-different-brains-studies-show/) compared to liberals, particularly due to differences in the amygdala and the anterior cingulate cortex. Or, more likely, their amygdylas and anterior cingulate cortices are different because they are more fearful. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-liberal-pooh-poohing-of-the-ebola-danger/700388/88 "2014-10-05T23:53:06Z")
Conservative leaders love to scare the fucking shit out of their base, and their base fucking loves to be scared. It’s a perfect match. Beware the deadly disease from the Dark Continent carried by those dark foreigners. Your white American way of life, nay your very white American life is in danger! Danger, I say Danger, Danger, Will Robinson! See what happens when a black guy is in the White House? See? Between the Muslim beheading menace and these killer black African viruses, if you don’t vote Republican this year you’re going to die! ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-liberal-pooh-poohing-of-the-ebola-danger/700388/89 "2014-10-05T23:59:54Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > Do diseases become airborne very often? I always thought that was just a plot element from Outbreak (great film, BTW, Dale Dye is in it, playing the same character Dale Dye plays in every movie he’s in, which just so happens to be one of my favorite characters). Answer per this [virology blog](http://www.virology.ws/2014/09/18/what-we-are-not-afraid-to-say-about-ebola-virus/): > [@](#): > > When it comes to viruses, it is always difficult to predict what they can or cannot do. It is instructive, however, to see what viruses have done in the past, and use that information to guide our thinking. Therefore we can ask: has any human virus ever changed its mode of transmission? > > The answer is no. We have been studying viruses for over 100 years, and we’ve never seen a human virus change the way it is transmitted. > > HIV-1 has infected millions of humans since the early 1900s. It is still transmitted among humans by introduction of the virus into the body by sex, contaminated needles, or during childbirth. > > Hepatitis C virus has infected millions of humans since its discovery in the 1980s. It is still transmitted among humans by introduction of the virus into the body by contaminated needles, blood, and during birth. > > There is no reason to believe that Ebola virus is any different from any of the viruses that infect humans and have not changed the way that they are spread. Also pointed out there: > [@](#): > > One approach to this conundrum would be to take a virus that does not transmit among mammals by aerosols – such as avian influenza H5N1 virus – and endow it with that property. This experiment was done by Fouchier and Kawaoka several years ago, and revealed that multiple amino acid changes are required to allow airborne transmission of H5N1 virus among ferrets. These experiments were met with a storm of protest from individuals – among them Michael Osterholm – who thought they were too dangerous. Do you want us to think about airborne transmission, and do experiments to understand it – or not? > > The other important message from the Fouchier-Kawaoka ferret experiments is that the H5N1 virus that could transmit through the air had lost its ability to kill. The message is clear: gain of function (airborne transmission) is accompanied by loss of function (virulence). I can find the [article](http://www.nature.com/news/ebola-virus-mutating-rapidly-as-it-spreads-1.15777) discussing that Ebola has accumulated 395 mutations over 10 years and apparently 50 of them in the first month of that period, and the lede calling that “mutating rapidly” but does anyone have any knowledge of how that compares to other viruses such as influenza A or HIV? ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-liberal-pooh-poohing-of-the-ebola-danger/700388/90 "2014-10-06T00:02:41Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Or better still, a globe. – It is the people in Maine who should really be worrying. 😉 [Actually maybe they are.](http://www.pressherald.com/2012/04/02/for-havens-sake_2012-04-02/) ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-liberal-pooh-poohing-of-the-ebola-danger/700388/91 "2014-10-06T00:12:32Z")
> [@davida03801](#): > > The answer is plain and simple. Protecting the public is not top priority for them. See, the problem with answers that are “plain and simple” is that they’re pretty much always WRONG.\* Could you show your work, please? \*The most famous exception being: _Q: why are there so many worms on the sidewalk after it rains? A: because the worms crawl out of their holes to avoid drowning_ ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-liberal-pooh-poohing-of-the-ebola-danger/700388/92 "2014-10-06T00:41:07Z")
Here’s my beef with the media/professionals regarding the risk of getting Ebola. They are IMO making it sounds like its as hard to get as HIV. And its not. So, they risk the chance that somebody in the US or Europe will get it from casual interaction they keep “poo pooing” as nothing to worry about. After that their credibility will be shot, which will not be helpful in preventing undue panic. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-liberal-pooh-poohing-of-the-ebola-danger/700388/93 "2014-10-06T02:26:50Z")
Well, they’re backtracking the patient’s contacts, and they sterilized his home, so it’s wrong to say they aren’t taking it seriously. It’s pretty obvious that they’re doing the best they can to make the public aware of the facts, at least as far as anyone actually knows. What do you want them to say? What, exactly, would satisfy you in terms of a public service announcement from the CDC or the Surgeon General? This is the trouble with criticism-based opposition: the establishment can never do anything right, because, no matter what they do, you can say, “They didn’t go far enough” or “They went too far.” Put up or shut up: write a PSA text that would exactly satisfy you. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-liberal-pooh-poohing-of-the-ebola-danger/700388/94 "2014-10-06T02:34:03Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Well, they’re backtracking the patient’s contacts, and they sterilized his home, so it’s wrong to say they aren’t taking it seriously. > > It’s pretty obvious that they’re doing the best they can to make the public aware of the facts, at least as far as anyone actually knows. > > What do you want them to say? What, exactly, would satisfy you in terms of a public service announcement from the CDC or the Surgeon General? > > This is the trouble with criticism-based opposition: the establishment can never do anything right, because, no matter what they do, you can say, “They didn’t go far enough” or “They went too far.” > > Put up or shut up: write a PSA text that would exactly satisfy you. It’s also really easy for the government to do “too” much and then get flak for that. The moment a critical mass of “innocent” people start being inconvenienced by fever checks and quarantines, watch the critics go berserk about the government using Ebola as a ruse to take away civil liberties. The government can’t win in a situation like this. ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-liberal-pooh-poohing-of-the-ebola-danger/700388/95 "2014-10-06T04:39:02Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > … > Put up or shut up: write a PSA text that would exactly satisfy you. So if it cannot be accurately boiled down to a 30 second PSA then what is the responsible approach? So here’s my 30 second soundbite about ebola. I would have it voiced by a Médecins Sans Frontières doctor dressed in the modified (i.e. inadequate) protective equipment. Doctor: Ebola is a deadly disease. \ Doctor: There is no cure for ebola but early supportive care can increase the chance of survival. [Early symptoms commonly include](http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/symptoms/) fever, muscle pain, weakness, diarrhea, vomiting, stomach pain, and/or unexplained bleeding. Most patients do not have all of these symptoms. If you experience any of these symptoms, seek medical attention. Be sure to tell the doctor if you have come into contact with any patients known to have ebola or if you have traveled to any of the affected areas of West Africa. \ Doctor: Ebola is known to be spread by contact with bodily fluids from an infected patient. [Ebola virus is known to be present](http://jid.oxfordjournals.org/content/196/Supplement_2/S142.full) in blood, saliva, semen, stool, tears, and breast milk of infected patients. Further research is need to confirm if the ebola virus may be present in urine, vomit, sputum, and sweat of infected patients. It is safest to assume, for now, that _any_ bodily fluids from an ebola patient may be infectious. It is important that deceased patients be considered infectious and their bodies must be handled by specially equipped teams. Families must not wash the deceased in preparation for burial. \ Doctor: Researchers are working hard to better understand the ebola virus. This is important to ensure we can accurately test for the presence of ebola. We hope research will lead to better treatments. Some experimental treatments are in development. The virus is known to be mutating quickly. [Several of my colleagues died](http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/40896/title/Ebola-Outbreak-Strains-Sequenced/) in the process of gathering the data to understand how ebola is changing. \ Is that 30 seconds? Too detailed for a sound bite? I think what the OP is hitting on is the idea of hubris. In terms of case numbers and deaths ebola, we have collectively about as much experience as we had with AIDS by mid 1984. That was pre-Ryan White. Just a year after the LAV (later caller HTLV-IIII and eventually HIV) virus was isolated and around the time researchers had confidence that this virus caused the various maladies that would later be dubbed AIDS. > [@CDC Director](#): > > I believe we have the cause of AIDS. That was how it was announced. There was a confidence to that statement that still left open the possibility of being wrong. And at a similar point in our patient care experience we were still wrong about some aspects of AIDS transmission. It was not yet confirmed that the virus that would later be called HIV could be spread from mother to child by breastfeeding, for example. But no one was out there saying it _couldn’t_ be spread that way. And when the same CDC director spoke of the future of AIDS research, she spoke in terms of hope. But not in terms of certainty. > [@CDC Director](#): > > We hope to have a vaccine [against AIDS] ready for testing in about two years. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-liberal-pooh-poohing-of-the-ebola-danger/700388/96 "2014-10-06T05:14:44Z")
Is there something on the [CDC site](http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/index.html) now that you think speaks with more certainty than is indicated? ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-liberal-pooh-poohing-of-the-ebola-danger/700388/97 "2014-10-06T06:04:12Z")
> [@Iggy](#): > > So if it cannot be accurately boiled down to a 30 second PSA then what is the responsible approach? No, certainly not. But…well, you provided a 30 second ad script, and I don’t think you would have written up a full-length newspaper or magazine article! Actually, thank you for taking the time and effort to do this. That’s admirable. > [@](#): > > So here’s my 30 second soundbite about ebola. I would have it voiced by a Médecins Sans Frontières doctor dressed in the modified (i.e. inadequate) protective equipment. > Doctor: Ebola is a deadly disease. > \ > Doctor: There is no cure for ebola but early supportive care can increase the chance of survival. [Early symptoms commonly include](http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/symptoms/) fever, muscle pain, weakness, diarrhea, vomiting, stomach pain, and/or unexplained bleeding. Most patients do not have all of these symptoms. If you experience any of these symptoms, seek medical attention. Be sure to tell the doctor if you have come into contact with any patients known to have ebola or if you have traveled to any of the affected areas of West Africa. > \ > Doctor: Ebola is known to be spread by contact with bodily fluids from an infected patient. [Ebola virus is known to be present](http://jid.oxfordjournals.org/content/196/Supplement_2/S142.full) in blood, saliva, semen, stool, tears, and breast milk of infected patients. Further research is need to confirm if the ebola virus may be present in urine, vomit, sputum, and sweat of infected patients. It is safest to assume, for now, that _any_ bodily fluids from an ebola patient may be infectious. > It is important that deceased patients be considered infectious and their bodies must be handled by specially equipped teams. Families must not wash the deceased in preparation for burial. > \ > Doctor: Researchers are working hard to better understand the ebola virus. This is important to ensure we can accurately test for the presence of ebola. We hope research will lead to better treatments. Some experimental treatments are in development. The virus is known to be mutating quickly. [Several of my colleagues died](http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/40896/title/Ebola-Outbreak-Strains-Sequenced/) in the process of gathering the data to understand how ebola is changing. > \ > > Is that 30 seconds? Too detailed for a sound bite? That’s actually pretty darn good. I think it is a little too alarmist, but that’s kind of what this debate is about. What is the right tone? Your example isn’t what I would recommend, but it’s certainly not panicky. If I saw it on TV, I wouldn’t jump up and down in outrage. My primary objection would be that such a spot serves no purpose, at least not now. There’s one (count him, one!) case in the U.S. right now (and there were two others previously, when health workers were transported here.) Sure, we don’t want to wait till all the cattle have fled before we shut the barn door – but broadcasting that PSA now seems to risk too much of a false alarm. > [@](#): > > I think what the OP is hitting on is the idea of hubris. . . . I think the OP was trying to make a health issue into a partisan issue, and that’s bad science and bad politics. ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-liberal-pooh-poohing-of-the-ebola-danger/700388/98 "2014-10-06T06:07:07Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Is there something on the [CDC site](http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/index.html) now that you think speaks with more certainty than is indicated? I’ve looked for actual studies backing up [statements](http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/transmission/index.html)such as: > [@](#): > > "Once someone recovers from Ebola, they can no longer spread the virus. However, Ebola virus has been found in semen for up to 3 months. People who recover from Ebola are advised to abstain from sex or use condoms for 3 months. “Recovers” is a bit of an ambiguous term in this regard. There is science backing up the notion that ebola has been found in semen after a patient is asymptomatic. But, as far as I can tell, there is little study about how viral loads and/or infectiousness drop as a patient recovers. I could find data from precisely one study that looked at one patient and how his viral loads changed during the course of his disease. (He recovered). -OR- > [@](#): > > Ebola is spread through direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes in, for example, the eyes, nose, or mouth) with > > ``` > blood or body fluids (including but not limited to urine, saliva, **sweat** , feces, vomit, breast milk, and semen) of a person who is sick with Ebola > > ``` We actually don’t know if the virus is present in sweat. I [linked to a study previously](http://jid.oxfordjournals.org/content/196/Supplement_2/S142.full) where sweat was tested for viral particles. That sample tested negative. One sample in one study. But not enough to say with certainty. It is certainly safer to assume that the virus could be present in sweat. Why don’t we have more details so we can say more definitively? The rarity of outbreaks and poor capabilities to safely gather samples in the field are likely factors contributing. And the niggling detail that medical professionals and researchers have been dying in the course of gathering the needed data has probably slowed things down a bit. So we are sometimes left to make inferences based upon animal studies. Such studies have been carried out under conditions much safer for the human researchers. And we’ve seen things that are worrisome, but again not definitive, such as likely infection via droplets expelled by a sneezing pig. And even if such transmission is confirmed in animals, that is no guarantee that it does (or does not) take place in humans. But in the Kikwit outbreak of Ebola in 1995 a rather [concerning incident](http://jid.oxfordjournals.org/content/179/Supplement_1/S259.full) occurred. A surgical team performed an exploratory laparotomy on a patient who was subsequently determined to be ill with ebola. The entire surgical team fell ill [suggesting](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=9988168)spread of infectious agent via aerosolized blood entering unprotected respiratory systems of the medical team. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-liberal-pooh-poohing-of-the-ebola-danger/700388/99 "2014-10-06T10:50:16Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally Posted by **GrumpyBunny** : > Anyway, from a medical perspective, I think we haven’t seen enough to know if it’s going to be a large problem in the US. We chit-chat about this at my office – there are doctors and\*\* pubic health geeks\*\* in my area, so people aren’t exactly just talking out of their asses. > > > [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > > > Is that a fetish or a hobby? Surely it’s not a job description, is it? Snerk, got me! FWIW I’ve seen that same typo made on the front page of a widely-distributed-to-healthcare-providers publication… ---
**Author:** ![jsquire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ce73a5/32.png) [@jsquire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsquire)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-liberal-pooh-poohing-of-the-ebola-danger/700388/100 "2014-10-06T10:56:00Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > What do you want them to say? What, exactly, would satisfy you in terms of a public service announcement from the CDC or the Surgeon General? As an aside, we don’t have a Surgeon General right now. The nominee said something about guns being dangerous to public health, the NRA went all gun-crazy, and the confirmation process has stalled. In any case, real life is not a disaster movie. I have enough humility and respect for learning that if the experts aren’t concerned that we’re all gonna die then I’m not either. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-liberal-pooh-poohing-of-the-ebola-danger/700388.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-liberal-pooh-poohing-of-the-ebola-danger/700388.md?page=6)