Isolation? Quarantine? Choose carefully when covering Ebola.

When a person infected with Ebola is moved away from others to prevent the spread of the disease, is that isolation? Or quarantine?

I’ll admit I wasn’t sure, but now I know, thanks to a useful post at Covering Health, the blog of the Association of Health Care Journalists.

After a brief discussion of the difference between “contagious” and “infectious,” Kris Hickman writes that “it is also good to differentiate between “quarantine” and “isolation” in your stories. They both refer to separation, but are for different purposes. People who are already infected with Ebola will be isolated, while quarantine is for those who have been exposed and may become sick.”

This is a one-minute read, and I recommend it, whether or not you are covering Ebola.  If you have more time, Hickman, who is pursuing a master’s degree in public health and serves as a research associate for AHCJ, has a long list of resources to help cover Ebola.

-Paul Raeburn