What Does Ebola Have to Do With Flu?

What Does Ebola Have to Do With Flu?

In principle, nothing.  In our current reality, quite a bit.  There seems to be a bit of confusion about why we keep mentioning these two things together.  They're different diseases with different risk factors, transmission patterns, treatments, and clinical outcomes, after all.  What's with that, one might ask.

It's almost flu season.  During flu season, it is predictable that thousands of Americans will become infected, infect others, and seek treatment.  It is also predictable that many will develop complications requiring hospitalization.  It is also predictable that many will die.  But I digress.  

People developing flu will have fever, malaise, nausea, headache, and myalgia at the onset of illness.  People developing Ebola will have fever, malaise, nausea, headache, and myalgia at the onset of illness.  In other words, the early stages of both diseases are very similar.  If you think you are getting the flu, you are unlikely to beeline for the local ER.  If you think you are getting Ebola, you are.  The problem is that the average "you", those who have been in direct contact with symptomatic Ebola patients notwithstanding, almost certainly has the flu.  If not, there are roughly 7 billion things more likely to be wrong with you than early-onset Ebola.

If you rush to the ER, you are exposing every other patient in the waiting room to influenza.  Some of them are not of sufficient health to resolve it.  You are taking an ER bed.  You are taking healthcare workers' time from other patients.  You are also exposing yourself to potential secondary infections.  Everyone is far better off with you taking some ibuprofen and going to bed, or at the most visiting your PCP and getting some Tamiflu.  Of course, you could get a flu shot and reduce the situation from occurring at all.

In our current state of confusion, with an alarmingly askew perception of ones' chances of contracting Ebola, ERs are likely to have a very, very, very long and arduous flu season.  That is why they're discussed together.  We are trying very hard to preempt the predictable outcome of sick flu patients taking themselves for sick Ebola patients.  That is something they should not have to experience being frightened of.