"While consistent and clear messaging is the best way to undermine misinformation, tracking emerging rumors can help communication actors to nuance and prioritize messages."
Wright) The future goals of risk communication about emerging infectious disease (EID) threats need to focus on building and maintaining trust, addressing knowledge gaps, and developing rational understandings of EIDs and the threats they pose. Ebola s high fatality rate, combined with the novelty of the disease, made the fear surrounding a potential United States (US) outbreak particularly salient, as evident in news coverage and social media communication over an extended time period in the latter part of 2014. Drawing on the Extended Parallel Processing Model (EPPM) as a theoretical framework, this study examines the impact of media consumption on US audience perceptions of their personal susceptibility and perceived severity in response to the threat of an outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD).