A lot of the public's perception of Ebola traces back to Richard Preston's early 1990s book "The Hot Zone". While a good read, Mr Preston hyper-senstationalized some aspects of the disease. That sold a lot of books for him, and consequently a lot of what people think they 'know' about it comes from that source. This includes the media. The fact is people don't 'dissolve' or 'liquefy' from Ebola. Yes it's an incredibly nasty virus but it's not the source of a coming zombie apocalypse that some people assume.
Like any deadly disease it is spread at least partly through fear and ignorance. If this outbreak continues as it has so far then there is a fairly decent chance that at some point it will pop up in a western country thanks the miracle of air travel. The media will have a field day filling the airwaves with panic. The people who make money from panic will have a field day, but it won't be the end of the world. And if and when it does pop up in Britain, how many who now advocate leaving UK patients in Africa instead of risking bringing them home will take the next logical step and advocate sealing then in their homes to stop the spread in a hospital setting?
Yes, its a horrible disease, but reading some actual scientific literature instead of the sensationalized pop culture version will reveal that it really is not a very robust virus outside a warm body, and it's not that easily spread in a setting where the most basic sanitary procedures are in place. And as another poster pointed out, even in the basic conditions in place in Africa the mortality rate with supportive care has dropped to around 60%. With top notch western care that level will very likely drop below 50%. The media here in the US are making a big issue of this being the first time Ebola has been treated in the USA, however it has been treated in the UK before. A researcher at Porton Down had a needle stick in the late 80s and came down with it. After what we can only assume was a very unpleasant few weeks, he recovered fully.