Some Fortunate Facts about Ebola

With reporters of the Western World losing their heads over the outbreak of the Ebola virus, it’s helpful to put it in the context of other diseases.
This year roughly 8,000 West Africans have contracted the disease, mostly limited to just four countries (Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Guinea). Of these there are 3,866 confirmed deaths, for a mortality rate of a hair under 50%.
This might seem pretty serious, but as far as threats in West Africa, it’s really small potatoes.
Malaria is so common that in these countries that it is almost a rite of passage. Last year there were about 1 million cases reported in the four aforementioned countries. Of these around 15,000 people died. The mortality rate of 1.5% might not be high by Ebola standards, but in terms of gross numbers there is no comparison.

This post was published at Mises Canada on October 9th, 2014.