Ebola is sort of the ultimate Scary Disease. It can spread ridiculously easily through bodily fluids, including sweat, it has a mortality rate of 50% and above, and it is famous for being a “hemorrhagic fever”, in that it can cause internal and external bleeding. In reality, the bleeding isn’t that common, and it’s the other symptoms – vomiting, diarrhea, and sweating – that actually kill due to extreme dehydration. So, it’s not generally the bloody horror show in the imaginations of those of us who’re far away from it, but that makes it no less deadly, and it has a devastating impact on the communities it touches. If you want to learn more about it, you might want to check out this interview with a doctor who was involved in fighting the 2014 outbreak.

Ebola is scary at the best of times, and right now, we’re all dealing with a bit of trauma from the COVID-19 pandemic that’s still ongoing, though the numbers have improved. Everyone’s a bit worried that the next pandemic will come soon (monkeypox had a lot of people nervous), and the thought of it being something like Ebola has some people on edge. It’s also understandable that people wouldn’t trust official sources telling them not to worry, because they said similar things about COVID in the early days. Thankfully, Rebecca Watson is here to break down the situation, and explain why you shouldn’t be worrying about airborne Ebola (transcript linked, as usual):