Right now I'm reading the part of the book about the 1989 Reston, VA "outbreak." This is apparently what the previous sections have been leading up to. Previously discussed in the book: Marburg virus (similar to Ebola (a filovirus) but with a much lower mortality rate...
only something like 25%), Ebola Sudan and Ebola Zaire. Ebola Zaire is the one with the 90% mortality rate and the Reston virus is testing out as being extremely similar to it. (If you want to know what the end of this story is you can look it up on wikipedia
here. Obviously, there was no mass outbreak and it was kept relatively quiet) Even though the world didn't end with the Reston virus the point is that it could have.
What is very clear from this tale is that we are, even today, nowhere near ready for a pandemic of this magnitude in the US. The politics alone are staggeringly dumbfounding. The government agencies which need to work together to attempt containment (because there is no vaccine and there is no cure) is mind boggling...The US Army, the CDC, the EPA, the USDA, state and local health departments are the minimum number involved in this.
The CDC has the authority but does not have the resources to deal with a major outbreak. The Army has the resources but not the authority. The EPA is supposed to have jurisdiction over "environmental" contamination by an extreme biohazard...I can't even imagine a bunch of clods who can't track down one of their own employees who is taking a crap in their own hallways in charge of anything. The USDA is in charge of any imported animals that might be involved. Throw in DHS and Immigration if it involves crossing the border. It goes on and on and on...
I would be totally confident that the current ebola epidemic could not become well established in the US were it not for the government sponsored open border situation. Right now we have absolutely no idea what is coming in across the southern border (or the northern border, for that matter) and we could be looking at terrorism or extreme biohazard as very real possibilities. We will know if one or both have crossed the border when we see the end results.
Another point to consider: There is no known airborne method of transmission for ebola. It also appears that it would be extremely difficult for the virus to acquire such a method. If it did manage to mutate in such a way as to become airborne it could also mutate in other ways such as those which might make it less dangerous, less lethal. However, (and I never hear anyone discussing this) I see no reason why ebola could not be spread by insect bite. After all, malaria and encephalitis are spread that way as are a great deal of other pathogens. Why not ebola? Mosquitos, fleas, ticks and any other stinging or biting insect should have the ability to pass the infection from one person to another. Just something to consider.
EDIT: FNC has a story about Reston
here if you would rather read it than the wikipedia entry.