A couple of thoughts about the current Ebola.
I have been following pretty closely.
These are offered in the vein of promoting common sense, rather than fear.

A number of infected travelers have gone thru intl. airports and flown on airplanes. As far as we can tell, NO-ONE in those airports or planes was infected by the traveler. The only secondary infections have been to health care workers in direct contact with the infected people. So this piece of news should be reassuring. The current strain of ebola, while serious, cannot be said to be highly transmissible through very casual contact.

Next, this ebola is NOT airborne in the sense that it is being carried by coughs and sneezes. If it was, most of Africa would have it by now. And probably a lot of other places. If Ebola ever gets to that stage - the world has got a serious problem.

However, there is some medical research that the virus can stay alive on dust and other fine contaminants for a few days. Hence it would not be good to be caring for a patient (in close proximity) and not have breathing protection.

It seems to me that the West is getting its act together now ... the initial response was certainly fraught with problems. The big concern remains about how far ebola will spread in West Africa. And THAT is a real concern. We should be praying - or expressing concern - for the US troops that have been sent there. And also all the health care workers who are active down there. That is a much higher risk zone.

Just my $0.02

Pete