Word: ebola
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...Ebola...
...members of the viral world evoke as many Stephen King-like notions of horror and human frailty. It's hardly a major killer in the global scheme of things. Even when compared to other flash-in-the-pan outbreaks, Ebola epidemics cannot, by virtue of numbers of people killed, be considered a top concern on the health radar screen...
...Ebola virus, which first came to international attention when it broke out in a missionary hospital in Yambuku, Zaire in 1976, is a member of a thankfully tiny club of hemorrhagic fever agents. It specifically targets the endothelial tissue that comprises the linings of blood vessels, arteries and capillaries, eating away microscopic holes in the body's vital conduits. From these holes drain first water molecules and later, as the leaks expand, red blood cells. Hemorrhaging may occur anywhere in the body, and patients can become terrifying to view as blood pours from their noses, mouths, eyes and all other...
...give your fears full rein is to get a flu shot that will be offered in the dining halls the next few weeks. Then if you start sniffling, aching and hiccuping, you can demand to be placed in a negative-pressure hospital suite (standard procedure for infectious Ebola patients) while doctors perform myriad blood tests and no doubt confirm their suspicions: You have a strain of flu that you were not inoculated against...
After all there have been no cases of Ebola in the U.S. and the host organism is suspected to be indigenous to Africa. But better safe than sorry--so get those flu shots and get paranoid...