Have you sneezed today? You might have Ebola.

The irrational fear of a pending apocalypse is surging through many American minds lately, thanks to three Ebola cases in the United States. New memes, — yes, “The Walking Dead” one is actually quite ironic — blogs and articles on how scared we should be of this virus are not helping slow down the mass hysteria of those who are under-informed about the disease and about other, much bigger, problems we have in this country.

This “epidemic of panic” — a term coined by New York City Health Department Deputy Commissioner Dr. Jay Varma — has taken the country by storm. It’s something that incredibly concerns the NYC health department, said Varma in a Sunday ABC News video.

“We like to say, ‘Common things are common.’ Ebola is not very common. There are lots of other things that cause a fever and illness,” Varma said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website, there have only been three diagnosed cases of Ebola in the U.S. The paranoia about the disease has affected many more, said Dr. Richard Besser, ABC News chief health and medical editor in the Sunday video.

“I think that the spread of disease is under control. What I worry about is that the spread of fear of the disease is not under control,” Besser said.

Ebola is much harder to contract than we are afraid of. It is spread only through bodily fluids, mainly blood, and cannot survive very long in the environment, Besser explained. Since Ebola can only be spread through direct contact with someone who is expressing physical symptoms, you have a much higher chance of getting that awful airborne disease that kills around 50,000 individuals every year — the flu.

Americans also suffer from other deadly diseases. Cigarette addiction, for example, kills more than 480,000 Americans per year, according to an April 24 CDC article. Alcoholism is not far behind with more than 88,000 Americans deaths annually, according to an Aug. 19 article. Other massive killers like obesity, cancer and heart disease are much more prevalent and much more common in the U.S.

Our response to these issues is nothing in comparison to our reaction to Ebola. Why isn’t everyone scrambling to get flu shots instead of demanding to know when an Ebola vaccine is going to be released? Although our fear of Ebola is indeed a rational reaction, it’s getting out of control. Odds are, it’s not coming here and you’re not going to get it.

This “epidemic of panic” is even having an effect on our education here at Syracuse University. This past weekend, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications Dean Lorraine Branham rescinded an invitation to Washington Post photographer Michel du Cille and his wife, Nikki Kahn, to participate in the 2014 Fall Workshop. Du Cille had been in Liberia for the past month covering the Ebola outbreak and a need to exercise an “abundance of caution” led to the decision to keep them from attending, Branham said in an email Friday.

In truth, Branham’s decision was the safest move to make for SU and potentially, the health of the university community. But it wasn’t the best move for our education. Giving in to paranoia only adds to mass hysteria and ignorance.

As long as you wash your hands frequently and maintain a healthy lifestyle, “the Ebola” isn’t going to get you. Oh, and by the way, sneezing isn’t even a symptom of Ebola.

Georgie Silvarole is a sophomore newspaper and online major. Her column appears weekly. You can reach her at gmsilvar@syr.edu or on Twitter at @gsilvarole.

Published on October 22, 2014 at 12:01 am