printThe point the illustrious Robert Wenzel makes in “Ebola in Perspective” is well taken. In West Africa, daily deaths from other diseases such as Tuberculosis, AIDS, Malaria and diarrhea greatly outnumber deaths from Ebola.
A disease’s infectiousness and the likelihood of contracting it is one thing. Quite another is the mortality rate from a disease once it is acquired.
Put differently: Say you are captured by an evil ISIS scientist. He tells you that he intends to infect you with one dangerous or deadly disease. You are given a choice as to which of the following poxes your captor will visit upon you: Tuberculosis, AIDS, Malaria, diarrhea or Ebola. One would hope that you would not choose Ebola. Even AIDS is preferable to hemorrhagic fever, because it can be managed fairly well these days with the aid of a new generation of retrovirals (and thanks to the cheaper generics).
Diseases worse than Ebola (because 100 percent fatal) are the likes of Rabies and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Yes, Ebola is pretty bad as far as manner of death and mortality rates go.