I agree with your assessment that the USA is far better equipped and indeed educated when it comes to containing a potential outbreak. I also agree that this strain is different, but then again all Ebola strains are different, perhaps even down to the individual virus level because of the way it replicates.

Much has been made of a potential change in means of transmission of a virus.  In reality it very rarely happens. In decades of studying human viruses there has never been a change in the way a virus is transmitted in the natural environment.  Where attempts have been made to test viability in lab conditions there has nearly always been a compromise in how infectious the virus can remain when changes in transmission mediums increase the virus exposure to less hospitable environments.

Ebola is a virus that replicates through RNA rather than DNA which means that it mutates almost every time it replicates because the viral enzyme that drives replication is a bit crap at doing so accurately, with very high likelihood of failure in accurately copying the genome at every replication, which sounds scary.

However this is potentially a bad thing and a good thing.  It means that mutations are constantly occurring which may increase the risk of hitting the jackpot on aerial transmission, for example, but it also means that every time it replicates in a host, the chances are it will develop a mutation that is self limiting through self limiting or lethal defects in the mutation process.

The high rate of failure in accurate genome replication means that an unlikely combination of mutations must be chanced upon which allow aerial transmission without the self limiting or lethal defect.  That genome must then be replicated accurately and in sufficient quantity within patient zero to withstand the body's natural defences and make it into the environment in a manner that will allow aerial transmission to occur, and then be able to survive in the new patient, and replicate accurately enough to retain those infectious characteristics to become transmittable as an infectious virus.  As mentioned above, there are characteristics of different types of virus that must be able to survive the replication process, but then be able to survive the transmission in a more exposed manner while retaining it's lethality, and so on.

That doesn't mean it can't happen, of course.  There is always a first time, but the number of things that must fall into place at the replication level and be maintained throughout subsequent replications suggest that the odds are so heavily stacked against it that the current scare stories really do not serve the public interest.

Notwithstanding that, If the guy was infectious then this clearly must be cause for serious concern in the authorities in tracking down those who may have come into contact with bodily fluids.  My understanding is that the transmission across borders is anticipated to be inevitable in this outbreak.

There is a tradeoff that has to be considered by Governments which takes into consideration the risk of transmission and ability to contain and control it, versus the shutting down of economic and trade activities, and the potential effect on destabilising this nations, and potentially cutting them off from aid which may be able to contain the outbreak.  Indeed the economies of some of these west African countries is such that without international trade, aid and expertise their economies would quickly collapse, their Governments infrastructure and control systems fail, and all potential ability to control the outbreak and contain it's spread are lost.

In the event that this happens infection rates are likely to soar with a consequential loss of any remaining public order, enormous costs in terms of containment and a collapse of bio-security as human trafficking, smuggling and other organised criminal activities start to take hold.

There is a whole level of contingency and resilience planning which is under constant review with these things and I have been fortunate enough to be part of a team that is involved in this type of planning.  I'm not a doctor or a virologist, so I don't profess to be any kind of expert in the matter, but I have spent some time with people who are specialists in the field who took the time to explain some of the science behind what is happening and the risks.