How strong research on virus and monitoring of viruses that causes diseases not just in Malaysia but all over the world. unlimited people movement in the world demand for aggressive studies on transmitted disease.

The Ebola virus that's causing the current outbreak is a known quantity. And there's no expectation that it will change significantly. Ebola was first discovered in 1976 and has stayed pretty much the same ever since.

Some other kinds of microbes can change drastically from year to year, including certain flu viruses and SARS-related viruses. In these cases, public health experts are always watching to see what new strain has popped up that could have new tricks. This isn't really the case with Ebola.

"The Ebola virus today is acting the same way Ebola viruses have always acted," Michael Osterholm told me. He's a biosecurity expert and director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. This means that the severity of the current Ebola outbreak is not because the virus itself has gotten any worse, but because the situation that the virus is in is so bad.