Diseased minds

Ebola seems to have one of those “hair on fire” fear-producing names. Say “whooping cough,” and Americans aren’t likely to react with the sort of alarm we’ve seen since cases of Ebola started turning up in the United States.

But the problem is that more Americans have already died of whooping cough this year than from Ebola, and we have no one to blame but ourselves.

Given that Ebola is much less contagious than other viruses—say, measles, or the current enterovirus making the rounds—all it’s really got going for it on a public-relations scale is an exceptionally high death rate and the fact that it’s new.

This is not to make light of Ebola. It has catastrophic consequences for the people who contract it. But it’s not as infectious as, say, the measles, or even a common cold.

What it does put in stark relief, though, is just how short-sighted and ignorant we Americans have been regarding public health. During the “austerity for everyone but the rich” economic strategy we’ve had, we’ve allowed the following:

• Severe budget cuts to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and national public health programs.

Gutting public health at the state, county and local level. Here in Sacramento, we lost a true treasure in Dr. Glennah Trochet, who resigned because Sac County kept cutting necessary programs and funding. Meanwhile, we’ve got a whooping cough epidemic that makes us look like a Third World country. This outbreak already resulted in more pertussis cases this year than last—and that was back in May.

Cutting funding to foundational research and science programs. We can’t cure or treat what we don’t have the money to study.

Busting unions and allowing so-called “nonprofit” hospitals to make outrageous amounts of money while shorting the training and support of nursing staff and their aides.

A rise in anti-science illiteracy that has led thousands of otherwise intelligent adults to put their own kids—and other people—at risk by refusing to vaccinate them against known killers that we can actually prevent.

In short, no virus can take us down. We do it to ourselves. Ebola is a big problem, but it’s only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to America’s public health issues.