How does media coverage of infectious diseases affect our perceptions of them?

The news media coverage of infectious diseases makes them seem much worse than they really are. For example the Ebola outbreak was made to seem much worse than it was. People feared catching the virus but very few people did. So in conclusion news coverage of infectious diseases just scars us and makes the disease seem like a terrible plague

The media tends to focus on rare and dramatic events. When a certain disease receives repeated coverage in the press, people tend to focus on it and perceive it as a real threat. This raises concerns regarding how people view their own health