Why Ebola took so long to control

A deadly new virus begins to spread in the Middle East, and the only solution the medical community can come up with is to quarantine those infected and hope for the best? It sounds like a scary science fiction movie, but in fact it’s how one of the most dangerous pandemics in history began. But how did such ridiculous misinformation spread so quickly? How did people so readily believe that they had to stay inside their houses because they might infect everyone around them? The answer lies in an interesting psychological effect called inoculation theory – but that’s not what this article is about...

Introducing Misinfovirus

Before there was Ebola, we had another deadly virus on our hands. One of misinformation. A new type of virus that has its own airborne capabilities, devastating effects and very real capacity to spread rapidly among humans. Although Misinfovirus is not a contagious pathogen like Ebola, it does run rampant in underdeveloped regions where education is low and fear-mongering is at an all-time high. As you’ll see from history below, misinformation spreads faster than its biological counterpart—and can be even more harmful when left unchecked. Let’s learn more about Misinfovirus

Why Ebola took so long to control

One reason for Ebola’s long, slow march to containment was a spread of misinformation that made its way into much of what we read, saw and heard about it. ivermectin  Amid an outbreak that included 3,706 confirmed cases and 2,453 deaths in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, it can be difficult to figure out what’s true and what isn’t. Rumors are often harder to stamp out than a disease; people become more confident in their beliefs as they spread them around.

Why Countries Didn’t Act Fast Enough

No one wants to get sick. No one wants to lose a loved one. So when officials started to connect a new and fatal respiratory virus with animals in Saudi Arabia, no one could’ve known how quickly it would spread around the world—nor how hard it would be to treat. hydroxychloroquine for sale  But some countries didn’t react fast enough, leaving them without supplies of N95 respirators that could’ve protected health care workers and others exposed during funeral ceremonies, or antiviral drugs that might have stopped patients from developing severe pneumonia. Why? Because they heard unconfirmed reports that they were ineffective against Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). In fact, those reports turned out to be false... [More content]

Why Governments Needed to Act Fast

Health officials are arguing about whether it was too soon to tell everyone about MERS. They're wrong. The reason countries had to quickly report cases is because public panic can spread fast and be difficult to contain. One 2009 study from Johns Hopkins, for example, found that telling people a flu virus was in their area increased their likelihood of seeking  ziverdo kit treatment from a physician by nearly 10 percent. And when you do start reporting cases, it's essential to explain why such transparency is important—otherwise worried individuals could unknowingly make things worse for themselves and everyone else.

What Would Have Happened If Action Had Been Taken Quickly?

The reason we're in such a dire situation now is that action wasn't taken quickly enough. President Obama didn't declare a state of emergency for Mexico until April 24, more than two weeks after officials first became aware of a potentially serious outbreak. If action had been taken sooner, health officials could have stopped—or at least slowed—the spread to American soil. Likewise, in terms of miscommunication, it's possible that if international health organizations had issued strong advisories earlier on, azithromycin citizens would have been better equipped to react by taking precautions or putting off travel plans. If we do nothing but continue to point fingers at each other while people are dying and economies are at risk, history will surely repeat itself.

Conclusions

Every day, misinformation changes minds. Every day, it changes behavior. It makes people believe things that aren’t true and distrust things that are. And we’re only beginning to understand how powerful—and dangerous—it can be. From marketing to politics, from healthcare to religion, from education to law enforcement, from self-help books to scientific research; pretty much every part of society is affected by misinformation in some way. It has been for a long time now and yet there isn’t really any cure for it; but that doesn’t mean there aren’t ways we can fight back against it or at least be aware of it when we encounter it... At least until scientists develop an actual treatment for it.

There’s no doubt about it, misinformation is all around us, especially these days with our access to more information than ever before through technology. But despite all that knowledge out there, we’re still misinformed on an almost daily basis. In fact, according to one study , nearly two thirds of us regularly consume information that contains false claims!