Sleep Donation

When I was reading the story of Sleep Donation, certain things scared me. Besides the possibility of an incurable insomnia what really frightened me was how close things that were happening in the book were so relevant and relatable to what was happening now. Thinking about this book in context to current events it what truly made this book frightening.
Currently we have a medical crisis starting to arise, Ebola, and in this work of fiction the mass populations reaction was almost exactly what we've been seeing here in nonfiction. We have some people on the verge of mass hysteria, for no apparent reason, people are scared and terrified even that out of no where they have contracted this terrible virus. In Sleep Donation there was the nightmare scare of Donor Y, it became an epidemic causing mass panic to where people, who would die if they didn't sleep, would no longer accept donated sleep. All of the volunteers stopped because they were afraid of getting infected as well, and possible people who were at one point willing to donate where no longer even entertaining the notion because they claimed they had nightmares as well. All of this is almost exactly what's happening now in reaction to the current problem we are faced with. People, who are no where near or could not have been exposed to, believe they are infected because they feel under the weather. They create mass panic because it is contagious, though no one bothers to look up in what way it is contagious.      
Another feature of the story that matched with what is happening in the real world today is the media. The only thing I could think about while reading how the media in the story was reacting in a time of crisis what that that is exactly what is happening now with the virus. The media does not report fact but fiction, they do not have peace of mind in mind when they blow whatever has happened completely out of proportion. The reactions that is causes is almost as catastrophic as whatever is actually plaguing us. They cause so much damage that the people who are actually trying to do good and solve the problem no longer can because of all the misinformation people have received. The media in the book and here keep giving out wrong information, which either scares people or makes them angry at government officials that have no power over these situations. Putting this story in context with what is happening currently makes this story a bit to close to home and makes it a lot more frightening than I think was originally intended.