Well, now that those initial 48 people are in the clear now, I see headlines and articles basically saying, "Now that the nightmare is over..." but we'll see if it's true that the nightmare is over. It sounds like people like Louise Troh are still being stigmatized, and she had a new apartment she put a deposit down on fall through. How many of those 48 basically lost their jobs because they had to be in isolation for three weeks? Can they get new jobs? Do their friends and coworkers shun them? I would really like to see some follow-up coverage on that issue because it would really serve as a teachable moment.

You would think us "educated" Westerners would be more enlightened than those people who stigmatize people who recover from Ebola in Third World countries but to me, that is still an open question. I wouldn't be surprised to hear about American patients who refuse to be treated by Nina Pham or Amber Vinson a year from now, just because of the stigma and how connected their names have become with this outbreak.

I can't recall much or any stigma surrounding the H1N1 outbreak. Is that because it's the flu? Something familiar that "everyone" gets at one time or another, even though so many people were deathly afraid of catching H1N1?

Edit: I admit that we don't know if the future landlord rescinded the offer of a new apartment because of the fear of Ebola (and would most likely never admit to it even if true), so I readily admit that I am making an assumption here. But some of the scare stories from around the country regarding the way that potential contacts have been treated so far are pretty outrageous so I doubt that the action was not Ebola-related.