Ebola is, in fact, easier to contract than AIDS. IMO the whole ebola scare here in the US is a paranoid overreaction but don't pretend like this is some sort of blatantly incorrect gaffe.
How else would those nurses catch ebola? Did they tongue kiss (American) patient zero? They clearly contracted it through some form of contact. It may not be the bubonic plague, but yes, ebola is indeed very contagious.
I would imagine the fact that as nurses they were frequently around his bodily fluids (blood, spit, urine, etc) for extended periods played a role, which is not the case for most interactions between people.
But coughing does not transmit the disease, so that was an extremely poor example for a physician to use for comparison.
