Tips for Reporting on Ebola

Put frankly, ebola is a scary, scary virus. The onset of symptoms can start out like the flu: fever, chills, aches and pains, sore throat… and can end horribly. Ebola was last in the United States in 2014, when a Liberian outbreak made it onto home soil. Thankfully, nobody who was infected in that outbreak died from the virus. 

Sadly, another international outbreak is underway. On August 21, 2022, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) declared an ebola outbreak in North Kivu province. Five days later, 18 new cases and 18 probable cases of the virus were detected in Uganda alongside 25 deaths. The outbreak is largely controlled for now, with the last known case occurring on November 27 involving a stillborn child whose mother had contracted and recovered from the virus.

With such a cloud of mystery and fear around the hemorrhagic fever, how do journalists responsibly and accurately approach reporting about it?

RESEARCH SYMPTOMS AND PREVENTATIVE MEASURES

When COVID-19 reached its pandemic stage, the first pieces of information available on every search engine and on every medium included symptoms. The symptoms list is there to help people who believe they or a loved one may be suffering from the virus. While ebola presents a string of very common symptoms at first, (fever, general weakness, joint pain, headaches) it can later evolve into gastrointestinal distress (abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea) and internal bleeding (hemorrhaging, bruising, bleeding out of orifices). Identifying whether or not the virus is ebola is the first step.

The second step is to see what experts recommend to halt the spread of the virus. For COVID-19, it took us quite a while to have an expert consensus on masks, but once that was available, every single search engine included “wearing a mask” as prevention as one of its first pieces of information. Prevention for ebola includes washing hands with soap and water, avoiding contact with the blood or bodily fluids of an infected person, and avoiding touching both the sick and people who have died from the virus. There is also an FDA-approved vaccine for the virus, called Ervebo, that was approved in late 2019.

PUBLISH CLEAR, CONCISE INFORMATION

The public will not be patient during a virus outbreak: they want information, and they want it as quickly as humanly possible. Nobody wants to scroll through walls of text during an emergency, so presenting the above lists of symptoms and prevention methods (as well as vaccine availability and information for how to get it) in short form with no extra dressing is essential.

VIRUSES AREN’T CRIME DRAMAS—DON’T TREAT THEM LIKE ONE

Suspected infections and outbreaks of the ebola virus are scary pieces of news. Highlighting each suspected case like its own news story is unnecessary, and likely to actually make the public panic more. Additionally, rumors and unverified leads are extremely unhelpful and antithetical to public health when dealing with a virus, so sticking to the information readily available from experts and making that information accessible truly is the only goal here.

TALK TO SURVIVORS

Thankfully, people do survive the ebola virus. Those people can provide something the public is absolutely starving for: a glimpse at a positive outcome despite a worst-case scenario. That person will also be able to help reduce stigmas around the virus. 

DON’T USE PICTURES OF THE SICK AND THE DEAD WHEN TALKING WITH SURVIVORS

It is highly effective for the public to see there is life on the other side of the virus, and using pictures of the survivors in their fully recovered form is likely to have a more positive impact.

TALK TO EXPERTS, NOT JUST GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS

The COVID-19 pandemic really showed the shortcomings of government when it came to disease control and prevention. While governments usually have experts on board, diversifying your field of experts who can speak to the particular risks and things to know, agenda-free, is invaluable. 

Viral outbreaks can be traumatizing to humans. There really is no “right” way to report on them—but there are helpful and unhelpful ways. When dealing with an inhuman threat like a virus, the only real salvation is objective facts that are easy to find, and recommended actions to keep oneself safe.