contact with infected animals (pigs, bats, monkeys)
contact with "droppings" of infected animals
eating any part of an infected animal
touching anything excreted (blood, sweat, urine, fetal matter) by an infected person.
any part of your skin touches any part of an infected persons skin
inhaling the droplets an infected person exhales via sneeze cough.
touching any item an infected person has recently touched.
touching a hard surface that has recently been in contact with anything wore, excreted or touched by an infected person who is dead or nearly dead from Ebola.
I am sure there are other means of Ebola spreading. It appears to me that Ebola is very contagious and could easily spread in a high density US city. I also think things are much worse then we are being told. Only 1500 infected? Only 800+ dead in West Africa? Really? I think way more.
Yes, even when a outbreak is contained in Africa, the virus is found to have moved into the animal population. Unfortunately they cannot control that aspect of it but it is known to have moved into monkeys and fruit bats, to my knowledge.
To control that, they would have to literally wipe out the entire populations of animals, which is potentially possible but in the African bush, the people are interdependent with the animals. So,,,they have not done that.
My point is that this would never happen in the US. We would not likely hesitate to attempt to destroy the animal population, or species of animal, once it was determined that it was harboring Ebola. Or we would find a way to immunize them, whichever works best...
But that's all theoretical stuff...I have no idea if we even have a species that the virus could find a home in.
No monkeys, fruit bats of the African variety, but rats could be a possibility, but I don't have a clue.
In any case, yes, the stuff is hard to eradicate. It does live on surfaces for a short time, measured in days, because it is encapsulated. It is this encapsulation that makes it difficult for the virus to mutate much, as we have noted in studies.
All that said, the virus, while very dangerous in the close personal contact societies of parts of Africa, in terms of rapid spread, it would not fair well in the US or the west in general, which is why it has never been a issue.
There is no telling how old this bug is. It did not just fall off a turnip truck. It has been studied carefully since the 70s, and we know how to control it, but we find that difficult in Africa for a number of reasons, most of which are not present in the US.
So to sum up, and I'll say it again..the virus is not a threat to the US, as it is in Africa. Sure, someone could get in untreated and cause a breakout, but it would be quickly controlled. I think it's notable that it has not yet happened in nearly 40 years, but I am not saying that it could not happen. Only that the damages would be minimal with this particular bug.