Measles!

February 5, 2015

Measles in early 2015; where do I begin? Tough, let me tell you, but MRW is at your service.

Let’s start with a few facts … because, Lord knows, there’ll be plenty of non-facts coming soon! Viral fear—my term—should be a function of the risk of: (a) death or serious health problems; and (b) getting infected.

Ro is the number of people a sick person will likely infect. A bigger Rmeans contagiousness is greater. (Information comes from No, Seriously, How Contagious Is Ebola?, written by Michaeleen Doucleff for NPR last October.)

So there’s Ebola. The Ro for Ebola is 2. Death is definitely possible, but it’s not likely I’ll get Ebola.

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