“Ebola, Ebola, Ebola.”

That is one of the many headlines that pops up everywhere in today’s news. But is the Ebola virus a big deal in the United States? Should people begin to panic?

Currently in West Africa, where the Ebola outbreak is more prominent than in the United States, BBC reports that more than 4,447 people have died from this deadly disease, as last updated from Oct. 15.

People need to stop panicking so much. Yes, Ebola is an issue that needs to be addressed, but not here in the United States.

Of course, the cause of concern is high because of all the scares that have occurred, like the Los Angeles plane that was isolated because a woman was coughing frequently and said she had just recently came back from Africa. But, that was quickly debunked since she had only visited South Africa, where Ebola is not an issue.

While in West Africa Ebola may be a huge deal, it’s not so much of a problem here in the United States at this point in time.

At this point, only three people have been reported to be infected with the virus – one of those being Thomas Duncan, who was the man that died from Ebola in Dallas. And the others being the nurses who treated Duncan during his time in the hospital.

More than 317 million people live in the United States, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and only three have been infected. How on Earth is Ebola a problem when less than one percent of all Americans are infected with the virus?

There are only scares at this point because of all the false reports that have been spreading about Ebola.

Perhaps the biggest Ebola scare was when Amber Vinson, one of the nurses who got infected with the virus due to treating Duncan, flew in a commercial plane from Texas to Ohio with a mild fever.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention quickly declared that she should not have flown on the plane; and on top of that, schools in both Texas and Ohio were closed because students and staff members were on that same plane.

The fact that schools were closed in two states just shows how much people are in panic mode.

During the time when Vinson got on the plane, she was not positive for Ebola – meaning that nobody would have been infected with the disease.

Not only that, but eventually as the days went by, no one was reported to be infected with the virus. So all the panic turned out to be a mild exaggeration.

The only way that Ebola is transmitted to another person is through blood or body fluid contact. Some of the body fluids that help transmit the disease to another host are sweat, breast milk, urine and saliva.

Ebola is not transmitted through water or air, meaning that the chances of getting Ebola are only limited through physical contact with a person who is infected.

People in the United States should be aware of the Ebola virus, but not so much that they panic.

At least not until about 500 people or maybe 1,000 people are reported to be infected.

Let’s hope it never gets to that point, because if it does, the whole world will burn to the ground and die.