No, It’s Not Ebola

ebola

 

Your head is throbbing, you’ve got chills, your muscles ache, you feel weak and wobbly… OMG! Could it be?

Relax. It’s probably not Ebola. You’re far more likely to have the flu. Didn’t get vaccinated, did you? Kept putting it off. And now you’re paying the price.

The annual flu season is upon us, and the early symptoms of flu are much the same as those of the dreaded killer disease that has so many Americans in a panic.

According to a Reuters story, hospitals and doctors are bracing for a flood of patients who fear Ebola but  actually have a more familiar ailment – the flu.

According to the story:

Already dozens of false Ebola scares have been reported by hospitals even though the virus is spread through direct contact with bodily fluids from an infected person and the virus is not airborne.

What part of “direct contact with bodily fluids” don’t people understand?

Reuters reports that “fear often trumps common sense, even though people should be far more worried about the flu given the toll it is known to take every year, doctors said.”

Of course the flu is nothing to sneeze at. It can kill, too.

Here’s a scary warning from the Reuters story:

You’re far more likely to die at this point from not receiving a flu shot,” said Dr. Sampson Davis, an emergency medicine physician at Meadowlands Hospital Center in Secaucus, New Jersey.

So, how about it? Most drug stores are offering free flu shots. It might be a good idea to tear yourself away from those merchants of doom on your TV screen and go get yourself inoculated.

And if it’s too late for you, if you already are coming down with the flu, you know he drill… rest in bed, take two aspirins, drink plenty of liquids…

Click for the Reuters story.

Click for more on the Ebola panic.