Ebola- a preventable outbreak?

I recently gave a talk on the nature of the Ebola virus, also covering the political and social issues bought up by the recent outbreak at my Medical Club (as part of the medical society at my school that I set up a few years back). There was a great turn out with the number of interested students, it has obviously captured the attention of us all.

The Ebola virus causes Ebola haemorrhagic fever (also known as Ebola virus disease). The first outbreak of the disease was in 1976, there were two simultaneous outbreaks and the name comes from the Ebola River, near to Yambuku where one of them started. The current outbreak is the largest since its discovery. There are five known species of the Ebolavirus, with three associated with the large outbreaks in Africa.
The host of this potentially-deadly virus is the fruit bat of the Pteropodidae family, and is spread to the human population by close contact with bodily fluids such as blood, of infected animals. Burial ceremonies are thought to have a major impact on transmission, due to the direct contact with the deceased. Humans are only infectious after the incubation period, and symptoms appear. WHO states ' First symptoms are the sudden onset of fever fatigue, muscle pain, headache and sore throat. This is followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rash, symptoms of impaired kidney and liver function, and in some cases, both internal and external bleeding (e.g. oozing from the gums, blood in the stools). Laboratory findings include low white blood cell and platelet counts and elevated liver enzymes.'
I found the BBC's Horizon and Panorama coverage of the disease to be insightful, with footage of the centres set up to mitigate the impacts and workers in their extensive protective clothing and procedures. There was a great deal of distressing footage of ebola orphans and patients near-paralysed with the virus. I chose to show some clips in my presentation to give students a real idea of the horrific impacts of such a tiny organism. 
I did feel, however, that a majority of the news coverage was focused on the possibility of the virus spreading to 'us' as opposed to empathy for the people suffering and action to help in any way possible. 
There was a large discussion on the possibility, in retrospect, of whether the outbreak could've been prevented or stopped in its tracks earlier. After all, we have been aware of the disease since the 1970s. 

(This post is in progress...)