As a little girl, watching Ebola videos in science class would scare me to the core. It was the deadliest disease I’d heard of and I prayed it would never reach the United States.

It has been six years since those frightening science videos and the disease I prayed so hard against has now arrived in America. With this arrival has come a swarm of speculation, public distrust and confusion. A combination that never accomplishes much.

The Ebola virus, to clarify, is a severe and usually fatal illness. It is transmitted to humans from wild animals, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Once transmitted to a human host, the virus is spread to other humans through contact with bodily fluids of an infected person.

Historically, up to 90 percent of persons infected with Ebola had fatal cases, according to WHO. However, the current strain has had fatality rates of roughly 50 to 60 percent.

The Ebola virus made its first appearance in 1976 in two African countries. Its name was derived from the Ebola River, which is located near one of the republics where Ebola appeared, according to WHO.

There are no vaccines issued for the virus. Proper outbreak containment measures are crucial for stopping the spread of Ebola.

I’m definitely not advocating that people shouldn’t be concerned about the arrival of the virus in America, but I am saying people need to seek facts and only react to the truth.  

I admit that when living in a society where the media is a source for most of what we know, finding the pure truth may be difficult.

But every person has a choice as to which sources they will trust for information. For example, I have seen people that are now convinced Ebola is a government plot to decrease populations. Their support for that theory was an article they read about Chris Brown making the claims.

Before Americans let panic ensue, it is the responsibility of each person to do the proper research instead of making any judgments out of haste or fear. The threat of an Ebola outbreak on American soil is frightening, but panicking will yield nothing but more chaos.