Here are a few facts and figures from the WHO website.

There are five species of Ebola and the three biggest killers of the five are the Bundibugyo, Zaire and Sudan strains. The current outbreak is the Zaire strain.

In the 36 years since it's discovery in 1976 until 2012 there have been 2323 confirmed cases of Ebola resulting in 1589 deaths (68% fatality rate). Most of these outbreaks were confined within the borders of one country which is why the infection rate didn't spiral out of control.

In the seven months since March 2014 there have been 8997 confirmed cases (four times as many as in the previous 36 years). So far resulting in 4493 deaths (50% fatality).

I don't think anyone is scaremongering, this is serious.

Ebola, Marburg and Lassa are among the most fatal diseases on the planet and we don't have a readily available cure for any of them. All travel should be stopped from any country that first reports an incidence of any of these viruses, if this had been done back in March it wouldn't have spread to two neighbouring countries and hence to the wider world.