The killer illness for a new world order: “Mad cow fits the classic profile of a disease likely to cause
hysteria. Ebola, AIDS, and polio—three of the most
flamboyant illnesses of the century—overshadowed deadlier
but less flashy plagues, such as malaria, for several reasons.
First, the hysteria-inducing illnesses usually affect young
people and strike in particularly gruesome ways. Ebola causes
massive bleeding from every orifice. AIDS is responsible for
grotesque cancers and infections. Polio paralyzed young
children.

Second, at the moment of the panic—before much is learned
about the disease’s origin—everyone seems vulnerable, and
it’s not clear that prevention is possible. Maybe an Ebola
victim flew in from the Congo and breathed on you! Maybe
your dentist is HIV-positive! And finally, the disease
organism is new and weird and seems to have sprung from a
dark, mysterious place. AIDS is a creepy mutating monkey
virus. Ebola remains a riddle: The Hot Zone traces it to the
bats in a spooky East African cave.” Slate