<p>And… there are 1.2 million people in Dallas, one patient currently diagnosed with Ebola who was isolated immediately as soon as she became symptomatic, and more public health monitors that you can count running around taking the temperatures twice a day of everyone who has come into contact with either patient. Don’t be silly.</p>
<p>It’s not a question of whether there are greater risks of being killed by something other than Ebola. That is not a reason not to think about it. It’s true that we need to wait and see what happens before ruling out colleges in Dallas, but it is not silly to be concerned about it. </p>
<p>If there are more “deadly” infectious disease like this in the future, will it discourage young people to go into the health care career (esp. the front-line ones who need to have more direct contact with the patients)?</p>
<p>When SARS affected many regions in Asia, I think it made many youngsters there to think twice before they go into that career path. I heard that the situation became so bad that all hospital workers were quarantined and not allowed to leave the hospitals (which are gated and nobody was allowed to go into or out of the affected hospitals, and the hospitals may even be surrounded by soldiers to enforce this.) There were incidents that some nurses or doctors or other workers (who were forced to stay 24 hours everyday in the hospital together with the patients for months) got panic and tried to jump the wall to get out and hurt themselves.</p>
<p>No wonder many new generation of doctors prefer to go into some specialties that do not have to interact with patients with a potentially deadly disease (e.g., cosmetic surgeory, dermatologist (and other specialties in ROAD) neurologists, etc.) - and often with a better pay or working hours too. A phenomenon is a little bit like the “better qualified” the doctors are, the less contact they choose to be with very sick patients, especially the poorer patients. (Poor patients generally do not need or can not afford the cosmetic surgery or botox, for example.)</p>
<p>There’s no question in my mind that the people who risk their lives to treat the truly sick with contagious diseases are a special breed. It has always been so.<br>
I’m hopeful that we will ramp up our ability to protect the health workers who are treating these patients, at home and abroad. Nurses here are currently demanding it, as they are on the front lines. There is money to be made in coming up with effective ways to guard against infection, so I think it will happen. Just hope it’s soon.</p>
<p>Bay, you are missing the point and a basic understanding of statistics. On any given day, your child is way more likely to die from influenza, a car crash or other traumatic accident, or drowning than he is to either contract or die from ebola. And I agree with blossom. Millions of teens are unnvaccinated against measles. If your child rooms with one of these teens, he will be more at risk of contracting and dying from measles than from ebola. Even if your child has been vaccinated. </p>
<p>Americans are fearful of the exotic unknown, when they should be more concerned about risks that are way greater but more familiar. </p>
<p>By the way, flu is very dangerous. We have NOT all had the flu, as someone above suggested. A bad cold is not the flu. Real flu makes you very, very sick. And those who think that “ordinary” people do not die from influenza are sorely mistaken. </p>
<p>I’m not missing any point. There is no more risk that my child will die of flu in Dallas than in CA, so why would I even bring that up? Right now, there is Ebola in Dallas and none in CA. If I go to Dallas today and end up in the hospital for some reason, there is a known risk, albeit small that I could get it. There is no such risk in CA today. </p>
<p>Influenza risks and rates vary and are not the same between states and changes during the season.</p>
<p>Ok so how does that relate to the subject of this thread?</p>
<p>Bay- as of today there are no reported cases of Ebola in California. That is NOT the same thing as saying that there is no Ebola in California. And you are not risk free by staying in California since you have no idea who has flown in over the last week and where they are staying and who they’ve been in contact with.</p>
<p>My point was that it’s easy to get hysterical over the disease that makes front page news. Babies who die from Whooping cough because they were too young to be immunized, but caught it from someone whose parent made the irresponsible decision NOT to immunize their child, do not make the front page. I have a colleague whose husband is a pediatrician-- his hospital got an admission last week and the entire peds department rotated in and out of the ER before someone recognized measles. (The diagnosing physician was over 60). An entire generation of medical students and interns and residents have never actually seen measles- and now it is back with a vengeance. Kids will die this year from a disease which we all thought was eradicated 30 years ago.</p>
<p>It is easy to worry about the exotic but very hard to worry about your college aged kid getting measles or mumps or whooping cough- all of which can be very dangerous.</p>
<p>No one is getting hysterical. But Ebola in the US is not something to scoff at or minimize. If people don’t take it seriously it could spread and they can die. </p>
<p>Ebola isn’t a factor in selecting colleges. There are all kinds of disasters: University of Alabama - tornadoes; Virginia Tech - shooter; Berkeley - earthquakes; and more. Pick colleges that fit you best.</p>
<p>You should definitely apply to Dallas colleges. If ebola ravages Dallas, then colleges will have no local students left to admit and they will be eager to admit students from elsewhere, so it will be a safety. Of course, if you are a local Dallas student, then you have my sympathies and I advise stocking up on tyvek suits and masks from the local medical protection gear stores. ;)</p>
<p>Frankly, if Ebola spreads in Dallas, G-d forbid, it is going to spread beyond Dallas, too. There’s already talk of a possible Ebola case in Boston. If that turns out to be for real, should we cross that city off the list too? To be honest, I get the concern - I’m flying in a couple of weeks, and the thought of ebola is making me a little nervous. But I understand that my reaction isn’t rational, and wouldn’t change my plans based on it.</p>
<p>I’d also point out that neither of the cases of Dallas have been random people infected through casual contact. Duncan had helped to carry a dying woman who was bleeding profusely. The nurse had been treating Duncan. Obviously, that doesn’t mean there is no risk for the rest of us, but it hasn’t happened yet.</p>
<p>I can’t believe people are worrying about this already. Yes, Ebola is terrifying but as others have said we have a lot more things to worry about. </p>
<p>I hadn’t even thought about my kids ending up in a dorm room with an anti-vaxxer, for instance. I wonder if we’ll reach a point where colleges don’t let students live in communal housing without proof of vaccinations.</p>
<p>Agree that the hysteria is unnecessary. I have had kids in cities hit by severe hurricanes, both prior to and while they attended. Ebola is scary but not worth worrying about when applying to a college. In the remote case this is incorrect and some massive uncontained outbreak occurs on many of the Dallas campuses (sarcasm detectors should be on ) then decline the acceptance and go somewhere else.</p>
<p>There is an Ebola case in Boston, so avoid BU, BC, Northeastern, Suffolk, Lesley, Emmanuel, UMass Boston, Wellesley, many others…and Harvard.</p>
<p>But go to MIT :)</p>
<p>At this point, the only people (IMO) who should be really worried are health care workers and people who have friends and relatives coming in from affected countries (Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea). Otherwise, I think your risk is zero to none. Not only is it not contagious prior to symptoms, but it is only transmitted through body fluids. Pretty hard to transmit unless you are actively caring for someone with symptoms. </p>
<p>
LOL, can’t get much lower than that! :)</p>
<p>I really don’t see the point of this thread. But to each his own.</p>