How can somebody in west africa prevent his self from contracting ebola virus?

Isolation: Avoid areas where the disease is occurring. Stay away from infected individuals and corpses of victims of the disease.

Avoid contact: West Africa is the center of contagion. Significant measures are being undertaken to isolate those infected. Some of these means are logically, but some are inhumane and are being put in place by fear. The bottom line is to avoid contact with infected persons and their bodily fluids. This is how all viral illness of other types can be managed.

If not in: Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea - avoid entry into those countries. Avoid contact with infected persons or animals. Don't engage in traditional practice of washing of body by family member's prior to to burial. Don't reuse needles & syringes (which is common in those countries). Avoid bodily fluids (sweat, tears, blood, saliva, breast milk, semen, vomit, urine and stool) of those infected or >