Still, there is some cause for concern. The United States forbids blood donations by people who spent more than six months in the United Kingdom between 1980 and 1996. And BSE-like illness is rampant in Western elk and deer herds. NvCJD has killed fewer than 100 people, and the much-anticipated mass epidemic one scientist predicted 130,000 British deaths does not seem to be materializing. The number of cases is rising, but slowly.
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.