Mass Panic of SARS Shows Potential Cost of Ebola’s Spread

Bloomberg carrying an interesting article: Mass Panic of SARS Shows Potential Cost of Ebola’s Spread

• The Ebola outbreak in West Africa has raised concerns of international spread — and economic impact — similar to the SARS epidemic in 2002 and 2003
• SARS cost the global economy $40 billion, according to the Brookings Institution
• Ebola… is in theory less contagious (according to Ian Mackay, a virologist at the University of Queensland) but it is more fatal, killing almost 4,500 people since the epidemic began, the WHO reported
• “SARS and pandemic flu both went around the world, but Ebola isn’t like that,” Mackay said. “We are not looking at the global distribution yet.”

More at the article, Bloomberg link

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Zero Hedge also have an article up on the panic …

• “Are you more worried about Ebola than driving to work? If so, you have those risks entirely inverted.”