Bug is due to army medical cuts.
“Military analysts told The Observer that the Army now has virtually no expertise for dealing with unusual infections or tropical ailments, and that this probably led to a potentially catastrophic week-long delay in pinpointing the outbreak’s cause.”

This story answers a few of my questions, but I’ve still got a few unanswered. I don’t buy into conspiracy theories, and as the source is in the forces it probably has SOME credability, who knows?