According to the World Health Organization’s latest update, there have been almost 9,000 confirmed and suspected cases of Ebola in the world, with almost 4,500 deaths, since it was discovered 40 years ago. But, that’s not to say we can be caviler about Ebola. It is a serious disease with a mortality rate somewhere between 50 and 90%. There have been more cases since this outbreak began in March, this year than in all the years the virus has been around. We, as a country and as a world, need to be alert, vigilant, and persistent in developing a treatment or, better yet, a vaccine to stop this tragic endemic and keep it from recurring.
On the other hand, in the winter of 1986-7, according to the CDC, more 49,000 Americans died from the flu; that’s more than 10 times the number who have died of Ebola since 1974. CDC records from 1976-7 flu season through the 2006-7 season show an average of 21,000 of us die yearly from this very common, dreaded disease.
I don’t need to tell you flu is very contagious and usually not life threatening, because 21,000 deaths yearly and millions of day off of work and out of school tell the story without a narrator. I just want to reinforce the fact that it is largely preventable. If we can send 3,000 troops to Africa to “fight” Ebola, we can, and should, exercise the same type of effort in getting every American vaccinated against influenza.
I’ll not entertain any objections to flu shots, as none of them are valid. And I have discussed them so much before that you are even more exhausted than I on the subject. As I look at it, the chances of any one of us, who has not travelled to Africa, getting the Ebola is about the same as winning the lottery and getting killed by falling space debris on the same day. (The previous sentence is what Mary would call a “Par-Fact” , and it’s statistical verity is not to be taken at face value. I would call it a simile. But, you get the point.)
So turn off the end less TV news people who try to scare us into catatonia, get your flu shot, and get on with living.