Ebola Halloween costume sparks outrage

Ebola attacks a type of cell in blood vessels. Can early treatment help improve chances of survival? WSJs Jason Bellini has #TheShortAnswer.

More than 4033 people have died from the Ebola outbreak, with 10,000 more expected to be infected. Pic: John Moore/Getty Images Source: Getty Images

NO HOLIDAY screams controversy quite like Halloween.

So what's the costume flap of the year? It might just be Ebola - as in Ebola zombies, bloody Ebola patients and faux protective gear.

Twitter and other social media sites are abuzz leading into the holiday, with talk of hazmat suits and respirators.

But is it too soon? Absolutely, says Philadelphia physician's assistant Maria McKenna.

One of her own, a Dallas nurse who, at 26, is exactly her age, was diagnosed with the virus in the United States after she helped care for a Liberian man who died at her hospital.

The idea of using the crisis for Halloween "definitely rubs me the wrong way," said McKenna, who works with post-surgical patients at a hospital.

"Normally I think that irony and humour is funny, but this thing with the costumes, is it really that funny? I mean, Ebola's not even under control yet," she said.

Nina Pham is quarantined with the disease in Texas. Source: Supplied

Like it or not, some costume sellers have leftover yellow jumpsuits, rubber gloves and masks from the "Breaking Bad" craze last Halloween. Some sellers predict Halloweeners will repurpose those for takes on Ebola or make their own get-ups.

Halloween, falling on a Friday, is sure to be a big season for many costume sellers, including a shop called Ricky's NYC.

Some revellers are notoriously last-minute on costumes, so it's a bit too early to tell whether all the talk about dressing up as something Ebola-related will actually take off.

"I wouldn't say we can see an uptick in sales. I'd say it's still chugging along because it's a good seller no matter what," said Ricky's president Richard Parrott of the 'Breaking Bad' look. "But people are definitely asking about an Ebola-type costume."

Ricky's had gone so far as to internally kick around the idea of selling some type of Ebola costume and donating a portion of proceeds to finding a cure, Parrott said. Ultimately, "we felt like it probably crosses a line that we don't want to cross."

Many shops are still stocking the popular Breaking Bad costume from last year. Source: Supplied Source: Supplied

If searches on Google are any indication, the Ebola crisis doesn't match the Top 10 popularity of Elsa from "Frozen," or even your basic Wonder Woman, among searches for DIY costumes.

Regardless, the costume site BrandsOnSale went there. It's selling an "Ebola Containment Suit Costume" for $79.99, complete with white suit emblazoned with "Ebola," face shield, breathing mask, safety goggles and blue latex gloves.

"You are sure to be prepared if any outbreak happens at your Halloween party. This will literally be the most 'viral' costume of the year," declares the online product description.

The company's chief executive, Johnathon Weeks, said he sold about a dozen of the costumes in the first week after its October 8 launch. That's barely a ripple in the more than one million costumes he stocks, but it was shared on social media 7,000 times by Monday — the most shared item on his site. The costume was greeted by some blowback from outraged members of the public, he said.

The costume is billed as the 'viral' hit of the year. Pic: AP/Brands On Sale, Inc. Source: AP

"We don't stray away from anything that's current or controversial or anything like that," Weeks said from his 127,000-square-foot warehouse in Banning, California. "If I told you we had a toddler ISIS costume in the works, your mouth would drop."

Does he?

"I will definitely let you know when that goes on sale," Weeks said. "I can tell you it will come complete with a fake machinegun."

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