Rational Science vs. Paranoia

By SAM URETSKY

On Oct. 24, President Obama hugged Nina Pham, the first person to be infected with Ebola in the United States. Ms. Pham, a nurse who had been declared disease free by the National Institutes of Health, did not represent a contagion risk to the President, or anybody else, but the hug was symbolic. While we do have things to fear other than fear itself, the hug was an important symbol. It was intended to be. The Washington Times (not ever to be confused with the Washington Post) was outraged, and under the headline “Obama Choreographed Hug with Ebola Victim.” Mark Knoller, the White House correspondent for CBS News Tweeted “Still photographers said they heard Pres Obama tell Nurse Nina Pham words to the effect of: let’s give a hug for the cameras.”

The picture itself seems to deliver the message. Ms. Pham has a huge grin, President Obama has a look of total indifference – which is perfectly okay. If he appeared to be enjoying the hug the Washington Times and NewsMax would have had something to say about that too. Ebola is scary, but we’ve been through something like this before. Laura Helmuth of Slate made the important point that while President Obama welcomed Ms. Pham and did hug her, President Reagan never even said the word AIDS – at least not in the disease context.

Ebola seems to be more contagions than AIDS is, but paranoia hasn’t changed much. Aids was probably scarier in its time than Ebola is now. In New York City, 944 students out of 1,100 enrolled in PS 63 stayed home because of reports that somewhere in the city’s 622 elementary schools, with 946,000 children enrolled, one student somewhere had AIDS. Time magazine reported that state Assemblymen Frederick Schmidt said “There is no medical authority who can say with authority that AIDS cannot be transmitted in school. What about somebody sneezing in the classroom? What about the water fountain? What about kids who get in a fight with a bloody nose? They don’t know!” In Florida, the home of a family burned down under “suspicious circumstances” when their three infected children tried to enroll in the local school.

Of the current crop of Ebola stories, perhaps the best was reported in the Portland (Maine) Press Herald: “Maine school board puts teacher on leave after she traveled to Dallas.” Elisabeth Hasselbeck of Fox News asked Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, why he wasn’t proposing closing the borders. “Why are we still letting people into the country who could have possibly been exposed?“ Mother Jones reported “Navarro College in Texas cited Ebola as a basis for refusing admission to two Nigerian students.”

Newsmax helpfully reported “One form of Ebola has already mutated to an airborne disease.” They’re right, but in 2006 researchers from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health reported “These findings are consistent with the observation that REBOV is not pathogenic in humans ...” (FASEB J. 2006 Dec;20(14):2519-30). Newsmax also reported “There is huge potential for spread in Asia.” Well yes, there are a lot of people in Asia. But when it comes to mutations, a phrase apparently originated by Gen Stanley McChrystal, “Ebola is the ISIS of infectious diseases,” meaning it has to be dealt with at the point of origin and not simply on a case by case basis, seems to have been interpreted to mean that terrorists could send a few volunteers to Sierra Leone and Liberia, then give them New York City Metrocards and tell them to ride the subways. Of course Ebola can’t be transmitted quite that easily. Measles and chickenpox can spread through virus particles suspended in the air and travel distance depends on air currents. But naturalnews.com reported “CDC now admits Ebola can spread through the air up to 3 feet away.” Ebola requires actual contact with body fluids, so 3 feet may be the record for an uncovered sneeze, but the record for spitting distance is over 7 feet.

In the 1980s we had AIDS phobia, and it could get pretty awful, and The Great Communicator wouldn’t even say the word. In contrast, Obama’s hug was a symbol of rational, science based behavior. It was more eloquent than anything he could have said.

Sam Uretsky is a writer and pharmacist living on Long Island, N.Y. Email sdu01@outlook.com.

From The Progressive Populist, December 1, 2014