The death toll from the Ebola virus is now more than 4,000 with Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea seeing the most fatalities.
The initial reports of an outbreak came on March 25, 2014, when the Centers for Disease Control indicated 86 suspected cases and 59 deaths from Ebola in Guinea. The same report also referred to cases in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Almost a month later, on April 16, the New England Journal of Medicine published a report that speculated the outbreak started with a 2-year-old child in Guinea who died in December 2013. Several of the child’s family members died in the months that followed.
In July 2014, the first American died from Ebola. Patrick Sawyer was a top government official with the Liberia Ministry of finance. He died in Nigeria.
The same month, health workers Nancy Writebol and Kent Brantly tested positive for the virus. They were both flown back to the United States in August where they were treated at Emory University Hospital. Doctors released them a couple of weeks later.
On Aug. 8, 2014, officials with the World Health Organization declared an international health emergency, citing this as the worst outbreak since the WHO started tracking Ebola four decades ago.
On Sept. 30, the CDC announced the first diagnosed case of the virus in the United States, at a hospital in Dallas.
On Oct. 1, Liberian government officials released the patient’s name as Thomas Eric Duncan. He died on Oct. 8.
A nurse in Spain tested positive for the virus on Oct. 6 after she was exposed to two missionaries who had contracted Ebola. That same day, an NBC freelance photographer arrived at the Nebraska Medical Center after contracting the disease in Liberia.
On Friday, Oct. 10, the health care worker who cared for Duncan in Texas was assessed after having a low fever. She tested positive on Saturday. The CDC confirmed the positive test on Sunday.
