  During outbreaks of serious infectious diseases many individuals closely
follow media reports of the outbreak and take steps, including self-isolation,
to protect themselves from infection and possibly death. Self-isolation can
take many forms including restricting local and long-distance travel, using
face masks, and choosing to receive a vaccine. We use mathematical modeling to
show that public health agencies working together with the media can
significantly decrease the severity of an outbreak by providing timely and
accurate accounts of the numbers of new infections and deaths. Our model also
shows that although providing such information beginning as early as possible
is best, even starting to provide it well into the course of an outbreak can
significantly reduce the severity of the outbreak. We illustrate our results
with a simulated outbreak of Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever in the town of Huntington,
West Virginia (population about 50, 000).
