Re:CDC confirms first Ebola case diagnosed in US
by hga on Tuesday September 30, 2014 @09:54PM
(#8392435)
Nigeria has so far been very lucky: a single index case who was already quite sick when he got on the plane to the country. 20 cases (19 lab confirmed), 8 dead, no new cases since the 5th (http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/outbreaks/2014-west-africa/inde...). They need another 17 days to be sure, if memory serves, but it's looking good. For this index case....
Well, besides media sensenationalism, the idea is that we should be fearful of a possible pandemic BEFORE it becomes a pandemic, and that that's how we take the measures and care we need to contain it. (Being fearful of something like that AFTER it becomes a pandemic goes without saying).
That said, in Nigeria there were abour 3,000 deaths and 6,000 cases. I wouldn't call that "fairly small". Plus stuff like that have a way of skyrocketing if they pass a certain threshold.
In Nigeria at least, they had very good reasons to be fearful, and with modern travel, a few stray travellers could have wiped out similar numbers in other places, or even more.