Good grief, Arjay is at it again. But he forgot the best bits:

http://www.liberianobserver.com/security/ebola-aids-manufactured-western-pharmaceuticals-us-dod

The reality is much more mundane. Ebola is a virus with a reservoir in fruit bats http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v438/n7068/abs/438575a.html and http://jid.oxfordjournals.org/content/196/Supplement_2/S176.long

When humans come into contact with the bodily fluids of infected fruit bats, usually through handling them for consumption, they can be infected http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/vbz.2008.0167

The problem with Ebola is not so much that it is highly infectious, but that the mortality rate is so high and there are no effective prophylactic treatments. PPE and isolation of sufferers is the only known effective method of dealing with the virus.

Jbowyer.
I've read The Hot Zone, it's a science fiction/disaster novel like The Camp Of The Saints by Jean Raspail or The Drought by J.G.Ballard, the post above has the correct information.
I know why for some people the poor food handling practices on the part of Africans and a lazy reliance on hunting rather than farming meat is so hard to understand, it's because fiction has replaced journalism in order to maintain the narrative of "equality", even White supremacy in the case of the bio weapons conspiracy theories.
Africans are suffering these outbreaks because they're too stupid to avoid them, the median IQ in sub Saharan Africa is about 70 compared to 100 in Asia and the West, this is why they eat food and drink water contaminated by bat guano and keep monkeys as pets. Nothing anyone says about hygene will sink in because the population is made up of people who would be classified as mentally retarded in the West and even the educated Africans still fall for this stupid White supremacist garbage about bio weapons and de-population agendas.
http://www.liberianobserver.com/security/ebola-aids-manufactured-western-pharmaceuticals-us-dod
"Dr. Broderick is a former professor of Plant Pathology at the University of Liberia’s College of Agriculture and Forestry. He is also the former Observer Farmer in the 1980s. It was from this column in our newspaper, the Daily Observer, that Firestone spotted him and offered him the position of Director of Research in the late 1980s. In addition, he is a scientist, who has taught for many years at the Agricultural College of the University of Delaware."

Arjay is always fond of a good conspiracy theory.

Firstly when a disease is weaponized, it is produced in a form that is easier to store, and disperse. The very fact that Lyme disease was caught from a tick makes the suggestion that this was weaponized somewhat fanciful.

As for the proposal that Ebola can be transmitted by air, the reality is that all diseases can be spread without direct contact if someone say sneezes into your mouth. However, only a few viruses can exist for an extended period outside the body such as influenza. The rest including HIV and Ebola die very quickly if exposed to air and as a result airborne infection from a patient further than a few meters away is extremely unlikely.

Jay of Melbourne you have obviously not read "The Hot Zone" and all this racist bluff and bluster will not cover that up.
I have you marked as a liar and a cheat from now on.

Jbowyer,
It's a novel, it's billed as a "terrifying true story" but it's like Schindlers' Ark, it's not literally "true", the author has created scenarios and dialogue to embellish his story.
Racist? Facts can't be racist, if this nonsense about the U.S military and Ebola isn't an example of a White supremacist conspiracy theory I don't know what is.
Simple minded people can't think their way through these issues so they come up with simple minded theories about evil Whitey trying to wipe out all the poor brown people. Another example was the rumour that the government had blown up the levees surrounding the black ghettos in New Orleans after hurricane Katrina and that they'd "abandoned" the people because of their race.
The truth was that their corrupt,incompetent Black city council led by mayor Ray Nagan (who is now in jail) failed their citizens, they left all the city buses sitting at their depots instead of committing them to the evacuation and to make matters worse his mostly Black Police force fell apart and in some cases joined the other blacks who'd stayed behind to loot.
Ebola is spreading because of African incompetence and their lack of any ability to project their mind into the future and predict the consequences of their actions ie, don't eat half raw bush meat, wash your hands, listen to public officials who are much smarter than you etc.

Jay of melbourne, stop the bluster! You are wrong. Firstly they do not know how someone gets the virus.
Give up on the other rubbish and stay on topic.
Yes the African do not have our facilities but give them a break for goodness sake. We are very good at panic in the west but let's see what happens eh? As for Public Officials who are much smarter? Wow that I have got to see.