What does the guy who discovered & named the Ebola virus say about the current outbreak...

[freshwest]

4. Conquest > War > Famine > Disease. Almost always in that exact same order.

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are described in the last book of the New Testament of the Bible, called the Book of Revelation of Jesus Christ to Saint John the Evangelist at 6:1-8. The chapter tells of a book or scroll in God's right hand that is sealed with seven seals. The Lamb of God, or Lion of Judah (Jesus Christ), opens the first four of the seven seals, which summons four beings that ride out on white, red, black, and pale horses. Although some interpretations differ, in most accounts, the four riders are seen as symbolizing Conquest,[1] War,[2] Famine,[3] and Death, respectively. The Christian apocalyptic vision is that the four horsemen are to set a divine apocalypse upon the world as harbingers of the Last Judgment.

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Four_Horsemen_of_the_Apocalypse&printable=yes

Symbolism, prophecy or just a rehash of how humans affairs sort out?

I suggest the latter. There has always been famine and disease coming from the destruction of civil order or society by war. It's a given, whether it's Africa, the Middle East, or in the Americas, Asia or Europe. They are all linked and they occur in order from destroying societies.

We know about the chaos and poverty which come from a displacement, with a massive theft or land, resources or assets, and there is more than one kind of war. The cycle seems to repeat itself and the only shield I can see from it is unity of all people, justice in social affairs and maintaining the belief that nurturing a civil society is a good thing.

Too many don't value it anymore, as it has now disintegrated which does advantage certain groups. I prefer this to a religious interpretation, but am still working in my mind a possible solution to strive toward, with little hope that the masses have the will to do anything but let it happen again and again, too taken in by diversions.

Most likely not what you expected as an answer, but the OP indicates three of those factors in play. And whether people will believe in this as some sort of spiritual event, a judgement or whatever they choose, it happened so many times, that we should work hard to stop the beginning of the cycle and work to prevent things getting to a tipping point even if war was not the trigger.

JMHO.