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Study: Ebola Coming to America?

EbolaSierraExpressMediaA new study in the journal PLoS Currents Outbreaks calculates that there is an 18 percent chance that a case of Ebola will arrive in the United States by the end of this month. The researchers inputed airline travel data and various outbreak scenarios into a computer model to come up with probabilty figures for the arrival of Ebola in 16 different countries. Is it time to panic? Absolutely not. The researchers also report that the likelihood that the disease would spread extensively in developed countries is tiny:

We observe that the expected value of the cluster size in the case of international spread is always rather small (in all countries mean<6; median<4). Large outbreak involving more than 10 individuals although potentially possible can be considered as very rare events (Detailed statistics per country are available upon request). This numerical evidence is good news, as it points out that effective management and isolation of cases is keeping the number of EVD (Ebola) cases to deal with to a very limited number, lowering the risk of losing control of the outbreak.

In other words, the number of people likely to be infected through contact with a person bringing Ebola to our shores maxes out at around 10 individuals.

For those wanting more reassurance, take a look at my article, "Ebola: 'Dress Rehearsal' or Show Closer?"

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  • Fist of Etiquette||

    The bath salts zombie outbreak will happen first.

    And I don't think inputed is a word.

  • Idle Hands||

    I've seen this movie before, the cure will be worse than the disease.

  • waffles||

    Yay! There are people who love, love, LOVE shitting their pants over things like this. The ebola may have ruined their trousers but it totally made their day.

  • Scruffy Nerfherder||

    I think the people you are referring can be summed up as the over-70 crowd and terror moms.

  • Rorschach Carlyle||

    Hey, this is Reason. There's never a reason to worry about anything except homophobes, xenophobes and raaaaacists.

  • ||

    I'm pretty sure The Strain is about this.

  • RBS||

    Better keep tabs on Sean Astin then.

  • Scruffy Nerfherder||

    Why do I keep watching The Strain? It's such a hack job, yet I feel compelled to watch each new episode.

  • RBS||

    Me too, I would like some more back story though.

  • Idle Hands||

    guillermo del toro could literally market a piece of shit and I would buy it.

  • ||

    To be honest this is the first thing I have liked of his since Pan's Labyrinth.

    Pacific Rim was especially bad.

  • Idle Hands||

    Agreed.

  • ||

    Because of Mia Maestro?

    The show is weird; it oscillates between super cliche and actually really interesting.

  • Idle Hands||

    yea thats a good selling point.

  • ||

    After you get past the bad acting and graphic squirm worthy scenes that show is surprisingly good.

    Bonus points for portraying government as incompetent and corrupt and taking a giant shit on the idea of sexy vampires found in so many works of horror.

  • Scruffy Nerfherder||

    taking a giant shit on the idea of sexy vampires

    That's probably it.

  • Zeb||

    Hasn't it already arrived? At least 3 people with Ebola have already been flown back from Africa.

  • ||

    I think by "arrived" they mean infected people in the general population. Those patients were quarantined, isolated and under first-world medical care from the moment they were loaded onto the planes.

  • ||

    You know who else put their faith in computer models

  • BiMonSciFiCon||

    Climate "scientists"?

  • sarcasmic||

    No Eddie Murphy jokes?

  • Bardas Phocas||

    Maybe they should stop selling airline tickets to monkeys.

    First thing that came to mind:
    Brakes cut -- "No point in steering Now."
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWORVTX9mnU

  • some guy||

    Ron, I love you and think you do a great job, but how does it feel to make a living reporting on numbers that other people pull out of their asses?

  • PapayaSF||

    No need to worry, folks, because Ebola never mutates, we know all the various strains, it's never ever been shown to spread by air, asymptomatic carriers are impossible, and suicidal terrorists would never consider infecting themselves.

    Oh, wait, none of that is true....

  • jmomls||

    *No need to worry, folks, because Ebola never mutates, we know all the various strains, it's never ever been shown to spread by air, asymptomatic carriers are impossible, and suicidal terrorists would never consider infecting themselves.*

    Plus, neither the government nor humans ever make mistakes, so there's absolutely no chance Ebola is gonna slip the noose and run wild. Nope.

    Now what y'all should really hyperventilate over is those mean old policemen. Yup. They're everywhere and all bad.

  • sasob||

    In other words, the number of people likely to be infected through contact with a person bringing Ebola to our shores maxes out at around 10 individuals.

    Yup. No big deal at all....unless you or yours happen to be one of the ten.

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