Stop fretting over Ebola: Protect yourself from contagious viruses you may actually encounter | CNN

Another alarming episode of Ebola. A rare, contagious hantavirus. Glaring headlines about deadly viruses in far-flung places may be needlessly frightening you. “The headlines are scary, but honestly, the risk to the average traveler from these viruses is essentially nonexistent,” said Dr. Thomas Moore, clinical professor of medicine at the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita. Yet people are always concerned about the viral “germ du jour,” said Dr. Ronald Nahass, president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and clinical professor of medicine at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, New Jersey. “A virus is intangible: You can’t see it, can’t feel it until you are sick, so it’s a real concern for many people. I call it the invisible enemy,” Nahass said. “And what makes it worse is our collective PTSD about Covid, so we immediately jump to worrying about the next pandemic.” Fear over one virus should not translate to worry about another, because each virus has its own “personality,” said Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of infectious diseases, health policy and prevention at Vanderbilt University Medical Center i