I'm sure people have run into this, and if I recall correctly somebody recently had something similar to this.
Honestly what I would do if it were my best friend I would try to educate them and talk some sense into them. If this failed then I'd simply do sign language(if you know what I mean) and tell them to get some common sense.
It's just people are scared of what they're unsure of, or what they don't know. Then to top it off the media doesn't help with this situation.