Ebola. Apparently it’s been spreading everywhere – in our hospitals, in our airports, and it’s even been “infecting” our day-to-day conversations. We’ve been receiving updates from news sources on the increasing death toll and the precautions being taken. Even Google and Facebook have advertisements where you can donate $2 to Ebola research. While Ebola is a dangerous epidemic, all of the media coverage has spurred Ebola hysteria. This can be a dangerous thing if people are more interested in how this disease is portrayed in the media, rather than feeling the obligation to get informed on the real facts about Ebola.

I’ve heard a lot of talk about Ebola, but it sounds like people are only discussing it because it has been in the media, and few actually know what the disease is. The media can often blow topics out of proportion, inaccurately state what is actually going on, play on our emotions rather than giving the public real facts and lie about where the money is actually going (remember Kony 2012?). While I do not think that the campaign for Ebola is doing this, personal research is imperative so that people can decipher the truth about the virus.

This reminds me of the popular ALS ice bucket challenge that thousands took part in late this summer. The campaign for the ALS Association was successful, and it received $115 million in donations. But I know many people who went along with the social media trend without donating to the campaign. And even fewer cared to look up information on what ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease actually is.

Both of the ALS Association and the fight against Ebola are worthy causes, but it’s important to understand what the disease is and why they monetary donations are necessary.

So here’s a breakdown of Ebola:

1. The first case of the Ebola virus occurred in 1976. The current outbreak in West Africa, which began to be identified in March, is the largest and most complex Ebola outbreak since its discovery.

2. The World Health Organization states fruit bats are natural hosts of the virus. It is transferred through direct animal-to-animal, animal-to-human and human-to-human contact with blood and bodily fluids or objects that have been contaminated with blood or bodily fluids from a person or animal infected with Ebola.

3. The incubation period, or the time from exposure to the onset of symptoms, is anywhere from two to 21 days. The Centers for Disease Control said the symptoms of Ebola include fever, severe headache, fatigue, muscle pain, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain or unexplained internal or external bleeding or bruising.

4. The virus has been concentrated in the three West African countries of Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia. The death toll, reported by the World Health Organization as of November, is 5,160 deaths out of the 14,098 infected.

5. ABC News reported that President Barack Obama has requested to spend $6.2 billion to fight Ebola. Some of that money would go to building “Ebola treatment units, a hospital for infected healthcare workers in the afflicted region and training for communities in how to conduct safe burials of victims.”

So the next time you are talking to your friend about Ebola or whatever the next big media outbreak will be, the message here still applies. Knowledge is crucial, especially when sensitive topics are so widely talked about in the media. Informed people have the understanding and ability to help fight this disease.

Claire Noack can be reached at noac8702@stthomas.edu.