14 DAY TRIAL // Despite assurances from health professionals, Americans fear an Ebola “outbreak” is around the corner, if it hasn’t started yet. Other countries in which cases of infections with the Ebola virus have been recorded are dealing with a similar situation, with people living in fear that they might get it too – and die soon after.
There’s even talk of an Ebola zombie Apocalypse, if you can believe it.
This wave of panic now sweeping over the world is like fertile soil for all kinds of malicious Internet hoaxes, all of them with a very practical end in sight. If an Ebola story doesn’t land in your inbox, it will most certainly pop up online, for clickabaiting reasons.
The latest targets U2 singer Bono, who has reportedly contracted the virus after caring for a dying Liberian man. Bono won’t die, but he’s in a bad condition, the report claims.
Detailed account of singer’s Ebola infection emerges
The report originated on a website called Organ Grinder, which is labeled a “satire” piece, which is actually code word for running completely made up stories like this one. It’s getting a lot of attention from concerned Bono fans – enough attention to warrant a denial from The Independent, which stresses we shouldn’t believe everything we read online.
To add more weight to the “satire” piece, it also includes an older photo of Bono, from when he checked into hospital for back problems, and this hilarious quote, attributed to Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: “The only fortunate thing here is that Mr. Hewson’s [Bono’s] involvement will bring the epidemic the international attention that it deserves.”
As if any healthcare professional would ever say that the “good” thing about one man’s infection with Ebola was that it would shine more attention on the “epidemic.”
As noted above, The Independent trashes the report as fake, while pointing out we should expect more stories about Ebola infestations amid celebrities, particularly those known for traveling across the globe on humanitarian work.
Before panicking, read up on your Ebola facts
The fans who immediately freaked that Bono was dying of Ebola (and there were plenty of those) failed on a very important count: they completely ignored that Bono was healthy, doing press for the band’s new album.
As the first video embedded below can confirm, just yesterday, he posted an apology to all those who had taken offense in the fact that U2 pushed their most recent album for free on all their Apple devices.
Bono couldn’t have been away treating a dying man when he was doing promo work for his music.
However, even if these fans had paid attention, they still could have fallen for this hoax. But what all people must do before panicking about the Ebola “outbreak” is read up on their facts, the symptoms, the transmission, and possible treatments for Ebola.
The part that the CDC stresses the most these days is that you have to come into contact with an infected person’s bodily fluids (blood, urine, semen, and not only) to get the virus.
We never thought we’d say this, but Fox News actually deserves to be commended for the way in which it addressed the hysteria around Ebola. Check out the second video below to hear Shepard Smith break down the facts – and list the reasons you shouldn’t panic.
