Wow. You read this very differently than I did. Horses for...

Wow. You read this very differently than I did. Horses for courses, I guess. Pharlap's more than capable of defending himself here, so will leave that to him/her. Casting aside the racism accusations, I think Pharlap's point is ebola is a largely contained virus compared to cardiovascular disease which effects an exponentially larger group globally than ebola. The potential revenue from a troponin assay at the point of care will be far greater than an ebola assay. Both very important, but know which one I'd rather be invested in, purely from a monetary standpoint.

None of these diseases give a damn about your race or sex, by the way. They will kill you regardless of the colour of your skin or sex. Silly, inflammatory and unnecessary comments imho.

Some key points from the facts:

• Heart disease is the No. 1 cause of death in the United States, killing over 375,000 people a year.

• Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women, taking more lives than all forms of cancer combined.
• Over 39,000 African-Americans died from heart disease in 2011.​

We also had some very different Google results. I used the American Heart Assc. statistics, so admittedly very different from Australia. That said, my ebola stats are global versus my AHA stats which are America only. Pretty sure it's enough to support my point.

Ebola (Global):
- 24,888 cases identified until March 2015 (couldn't find an updated stat, but didn't spend much time on it)
- 9,976 deaths up until March 2015 (your number would be more accurate at this point).

Cardiovascular disease (America)

Heart Disease, Stroke and other Cardiovascular Diseases
• Cardiovascular disease is the leading global cause of death, accounting for 17.3
million deaths per year, a number that is expected to grow to more than 23.6
million by 2030.
• In 2008, cardiovascular deaths represented 30 percent of all global deaths, with
80 percent of those deaths taking place in low- and middle-income countries.
• Nearly 787,000 people in the U.S. died from heart disease, stroke and other
cardiovascular diseases in 2011. That’s about one of every three deaths in
America.
• About 2,150 Americans die each day from these diseases, one every 40
seconds.
• Cardiovascular diseases claim more lives than all forms of cancer combined.
• About 85.6 million Americans are living with some form of cardiovascular disease
or the after-effects of stroke.
• Direct and indirect costs of cardiovascular diseases and stroke total more than
$320.1 billion. That includes health expenditures and lost productivity.
• Nearly half of all African-American adults have some form of cardiovascular
disease, 48 percent of women and 46 percent of men.
• Heart disease is the No. 1 cause of death in the world and the leading cause of
death in the United States, killing over 375,000 Americans a year.
• Heart disease accounts for 1 in 7 deaths in the U.S.​

• Someone in the U.S. dies from heart disease about once every 90 seconds.

Now, before you say that is all cardiovascular diseases, here are the stats uniquely for heart disease:

Heart Disease
• From 2001 to 2011, the death rate from heart disease has fallen about 39
percent – but the burden and risk factors remain alarmingly high.
• Heart disease strikes someone in the U.S. about once every 43 seconds.
• Heart disease is the No. 1 cause of death in the United States, killing over
375,000 people a year.
• Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women, taking more lives than all forms of
cancer combined.
• Over 39,000 African-Americans died from heart disease in 2011.
• Cardiovascular operations and procedures increased about 28 percent from 2000
to 2010, according to federal data, totaling about 7.6 million in 2010.
• About 735,000 people in the U.S. have heart attacks each year. Of those, about
120,000 die.
• About 635,000 people in the U.S. have a first-time heart attack each year, and​

about 300,000 have recurrent heart attacks.