Before patient zero, before the whole country began to panic just a little about Ebola spreading here at home, public health officials were on the watch.

Our neighbors were on their return flight home from a Kenyan safari in August when the mother grew very ill during the first leg of the journey. By the time they landed for refueling, the family and the flight crew decided she should be met by an ambulance and taken to a hospital in Rome. On the plane, the husband quickly passed his children’s passports over to his wife’s parents and gave them instructions for getting the kids off to the first day of school the following Monday. They hoped he and his wife could be home within a few days after that. Twelve days later, she was finally well enough to be transported with a nurse back to the U.S. and checked into a stateside hospital.

She had been lucky to land in the equivalent of the Italian CDC clinic where she was diagnosed with a strain of E. coli that emits a toxin that attacks your internal organs. She was very lucky. Meanwhile back at home her kids started the new school year like everyone else in the neighborhood with their grandparents taking care of them at their home. One of the kids mentioned his mother’s illness to a teacher at his middle school part way through the week. Within a day, his older brother was home alone and took a call that came in from the state health department. The caller asked a lot of questions about who was taking care of the children, where they were now, and what their daily routines had been since they returned from Kenya. At one point the caller said with exasperation, “I don’t think your family is taking this seriously enough, we need to get you all under quarantine!” After a few more frustrating exchanges, the son heard the caller say the word “Ebola”. “Wait!” he said, “my mother has E. coli, NOT Ebola!” After a moment of stunned silence, the caller verified his statement, then politely thanked him and hung up.

I’m not telling this story to make public health officials look ridiculous — quite the opposite. We don’t give them enough credit for the impossible task of balancing the need for a healthy dose of prudence with measured calm in today’s viral media environment.

The CDC says the risk of Ebola spreading in the U.S. is low. I heard an expert on the radio today attempt to put Ebola in perspective for listeners by pointing out that many more people will die from the flu this year than will be infected by Ebola in the U.S. These messages and follow ups suggesting people get their flu shots to avoid mistaking seasonal flu symptoms for Ebola are being repeated by health officials in every possible venue.

Communication is one of the most important tools in the public health toolbox to prevent pandemics — it’s the tool that will remind us to carefully wash our hands frequently, cover our mouth and nose with a tissue or our elbow when we sneeze, avoid touching our eyes or mouth, get a flu shot, and not panic at every mention of Ebola in the news. Like it or not, public health officials have our brief attention right now. It’s a good time to reinforce the basics of good hygiene. We should listen to them.

As an aside, my neighbor faced a number of difficulties while his wife was in serious condition at a foreign hospital where he didn't speak the language. He even had to contact a friend to wire him money because his credit card stopped working since he had notified the company in advance of their travel plans and Italy definitely was not in the plan. You can imagine the friend’s initial disbelief at such an email. But that’s another homeland security story altogether…

Image: Electron micrograph of Ebola virus virion. Frederick Murphy, CDC.gov