Ebola Doctor Craig Spencer Says Media, Politicians Fueled Public Fear

A New York City doctor who contracted Ebola last fall says the media and politicians could have done a better job of educating people instead of focusing on their fears.

In an op-ed published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Craig Spencer says his public activities before his hospitalization were widely reported and criticized, but little attention was paid to the science of Ebola transmission. He says experience suggested it was nearly impossible for him to transmit the virus before he had a fever.

He writes that politicians enacted strict quarantine rules without considering the full range of consequences. He says the threat of quarantine may cause sick people to defer seeking treatment.

Spencer contracted Ebola in October while working for the humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders in the West African nation of Guinea.

In January, Spencer gave WNYC an exclusive interview in which he discussed his time in Guinea and his battle with Ebola.