Understanding the Real Battle

Two viruses that have both earned headlines come face to face regarding their virulency,  contagion, symptoms, and death rate as we cover these violent viruses. More recently, the attention of the American public turns to Africa to watch the horror story unfold. Over 4,000 people died from Ebola, with the death toll steadily rising. The virus made its way into North America and two other continents, weaving a tangled web of insidious miscalculation, mystery cures low in supply, mistrust of the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control, and demands for screenings at airports – cries to stop the possibility of the potentially pending pandemic.

Many of us seem to forget the facts that other viruses have plagued our world, incurring terror and death for centuries. Viruses, an age-old enemy for the human population, and an often misunderstood enigma that can cause enormous damage, often cast monstrous shadows that splash across newspapers, film screens, and personal televisions. But what threat do these tiny, microbial particles really create for us? And what really generates the big, scary shadows that make us cower? We take a look at two of the most highly discussed viruses that both made headlines, and uncover what we should really fear.