Emotion is not the best medicine, Ebola case further shows

Breast cancer, tick bites, gluten, G.M.O.s, artificial sweeteners, shark attacks — and now Ebola. The news is replete with seemingly endless tales of health threats. Who could blame you for deciding to remain indoors, alone in bed, indefinitely? That would hardly be a life worth living. But many people do respond to health risks, however small, in ways that take joy out of their lives, all the while falsely believing that they are protecting themselves. I once wrote that there are as many cancer-causing mutagens in two raw mushrooms as in a serving of peanut butter. It was supposed to be reassuring, but a reader lamented, "Now I can't eat mushrooms!"