There's been just a handful of Ebola cases in the United States, but they've led to near hysteria in some places. Now, at the height of flu season, experts believe there could be even more concern, but just how concerned do we really need to be?
To find out, we caught up with Dr. Robert Finberg, an infectious disease expert at UMass Medical School.
"We're obviously quite concerned about controlling it, but I think we are prepared to do that," Finberg said.
There are many questions and speculations surrounding the virus, like can you catch Ebola by breathing it in?
"If people want to be reassured, it's spread by contact," Finberg explained. "It's not airborne, so therefore being on a plane with somebody with Ebola is not a big risk."
Finberg said you must have direct contact with someone's bodily fluids in order to contract Ebola.
"Flu, on the other hand, you can get because somebody sneezes on you in a plane," he said.
In reality, the flu is a lot more common than Ebola.
"In terms of the magnitude, 50,000 to 100,000 people will die every year of flu in the United States," Finberg said.
So far, two people have died with Ebola in the U.S., but could Ebola mutate and become airborne?
"Any virus could do anything, and frankly, we're all at risk for some new virus, but there's no particular reason to be worried that this one will all of the sudden mutate and become much more virulent," Finberg said.
Something else you may not know is that Ebola can be sexually transmitted and survive up to 90 days in a man's semen, even after he's recovered from the virus.
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