Bird flu, like other flu, is seasonal. The reason we are so concerned about bird flu is that influenza viruses both mutate and recombine (that is, trade genes with other flu viruses) quite rapidly--meaning that a virus that is now not contagious could become contagious overnight. With the bird flu--which has a higher death rate than Ebola--such a change would be disastrous.
Ebola, OTOH, is not very contagious and is not likely to become contagious because it infects the blood, not the lungs or throat. It can mutate, but the chance of it become contagious through aerosols is remote. It cannot recombine the way flu does, because all of its genes are on a single genetic molecule. We are not seeing an increase in death rate with Ebola; in fact, this outbreak is less lethal (less than 60%) than some past outbreaks that have had over 90% lethality.
Most viruses, if they become easily contagious, also become less virulent and lethal. While this is true of influenza, we do not know if it is true of Ebola. Highly lethal viruses usually kill their victims before they have a chance to spread, and Ebola is only contagious when symptomatic, reducing its chance to spread.
maybe, maybe not
one of the early symptons is sore throat
Try again:
From the CDC:
These final estimates were that from April 12, 2009 to April 10, 2010 approximately 60.8 million cases (range: 43.3-89.3 million), 274,304 hospitalizations (195,086-402,719), and 12,469 deaths
http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/estimates_2009_h1n1.htm
60.8 million 12,469 deaths you do the math, but that isn’t anywhere near 60%.
That statement is kind of a minimization. The Reston strain of Ebola, which is one of 5 strains, is for sure airborne. Luckily it doesn't seem to cause any symptoms in humans or else we likely would have been wiped out by now here in the US.
That being said basically the entire book about ebola is being rewritten right now in West Africa. It is mutating and evolving. I'm guessing that it's only a matter of time before one become truly airborne. As it is a sneeze or being in the same room with someone is enough to get sick. The driver of a car that took one medical victim to the hospital got sick and died. That's just a matter of breathing the same air and/or touching something that the original victim touched. Ebola isn't hard to get at all.