Many posts called for keeping the infected patients out of the country.
The medical charter flight that departed Cartersville on Thursday could bring Nancy Writebol or Dr. Kent Brantly back to a treatment facility around the corner from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
Their conditions are worsening, says faith-based charity Samaritan's Purse, which the two work with.
Their best chance to survive is to get back to the United States, says virologist Dr. Charles Chiu from the University of California San Francisco.
If the plane returns with them lying in the microbial containment system erected in its bay, it will be the first known time that someone infected with Ebola has crossed into the United States.
Vast conspiracy
That news echoed back in a wave of concern ranging from worry to Hollywood "Outbreak" scenarios and conspiracy theories.
"As much as I respect the Samaritan's Purse workers with Ebola, I really don't want it anywhere near the US," a user posted to Twitter under the hashtag #EbolaOutbreak.
"Atlanta is 6 hours away & I know at least 2 people there. How many degrees of separation are between you and #ebola?" another asked.
Articles and Facebook pages have popped up claiming to reveal secrets about Ebola readers are not supposed to know -- to protect clandestine interests.
On the website of conspiracy talker Alex Jones, who has long purported that the CDC could unleash a pandemic, and the government would react by instituting authoritarian rule, the news has been a feast of fodder.
"Feds would exercise draconian emergency powers if Ebola hits U.S.," a headline read on infowars.com.
Practically inevitable
But the arrival of people infected with Ebola is virtually inevitable, with the proliferation of daily international air travel, many experts have said.
It takes a while for symptoms to break out, so an infected person can get onto a plane feeling fine then fall ill after landing.
It is conceivable that an infected passenger has landed the country before. There has already been one known close call.
American Patrick Sawyer died in Nigeria of Ebola before he could make it back to Minnesota.
He worked in Liberia and was in a plane to Lagos, when he became violently ill and was taken to a hospital.
If an infection were detected, Western healthcare professionals would quickly contain patients and quell the possible spread of the virus, which, though very deadly, is fortunately not very contagious.
Articles and Facebook pages have popped up claiming to reveal secrets about Ebola readers are not supposed to know -- to protect clandestine interests.
On the website of conspiracy talker Alex Jones, who has long purported that the CDC could unleash a pandemic, and the government would react by instituting authoritarian rule, the news has been a feast of fodder.
"Feds would exercise draconian emergency powers if Ebola hits U.S.," a headline read on infowars.com.
Practically inevitable
But the arrival of people infected with Ebola is virtually inevitable, with the proliferation of daily international air travel, many experts have said.
It takes a while for symptoms to break out, so an infected person can get onto a plane feeling fine then fall ill after landing.
It is conceivable that an infected passenger has landed the country before. There has already been one known close call.
American Patrick Sawyer died in Nigeria of Ebola before he could make it back to Minnesota.
He worked in Liberia and was in a plane to Lagos, when he became violently ill and was taken to a hospital.
If an infection were detected, Western healthcare professionals would quickly contain patients and quell the possible spread of the virus, which, though very deadly, is fortunately not very contagious.
Spreads slowly
Its rate of spread pales when compared to the flu -- even though the current outbreak in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone is the worst in recorded history, according to World Health Organization.
There have been more than 1,300 known cases, says Doctors Without Borders, since the outbreak began about five months ago. More than 700 people have died.
The virus has spread through some of the world's most impoverished communities with no knowledge or means to fight or prevent it on their own.
By contrast, between 5% and 20% of Americans contract a flu every year, according to flu.gov. That works out to 15 - 62 million people, despite flu shots and widespread education on how to avoid it.
To contract Ebola, one has to come into direct contact with a sick patient's bodily fluids: things like saliva, excrement, blood.
Ebola's symptoms start out like those of many diseases, including common flus, with headaches, fever, nausea, diarrhea but progress to abdominal pain and bleeding.
"That's usually the blood loss and the fluid loss results in organ failure, which is how most patients actually succumb to the disease," Chiu said.
Virtually impossible
As inevitable as it is that some infected person will land within our borders, experts say it is equally unlikely that Writebol or Brantley would trigger an outbreak here, if they make it home.
Spreads slowly
Its rate of spread pales when compared to the flu -- even though the current outbreak in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone is the worst in recorded history, according to World Health Organization.
There have been more than 1,300 known cases, says Doctors Without Borders, since the outbreak began about five months ago. More than 700 people have died.
The virus has spread through some of the world's most impoverished communities with no knowledge or means to fight or prevent it on their own.
By contrast, between 5% and 20% of Americans contract a flu every year, according to flu.gov. That works out to 15 - 62 million people, despite flu shots and widespread education on how to avoid it.
To contract Ebola, one has to come into direct contact with a sick patient's bodily fluids: things like saliva, excrement, blood.
Ebola's symptoms start out like those of many diseases, including common flus, with headaches, fever, nausea, diarrhea but progress to abdominal pain and bleeding.
"That's usually the blood loss and the fluid loss results in organ failure, which is how most patients actually succumb to the disease," Chiu said.
Virtually impossible
As inevitable as it is that some infected person will land within our borders, experts say it is equally unlikely that Writebol or Brantley would trigger an outbreak here, if they make it home.
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