Timeline, tables and graphs | |
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Notation | Timeline, tables and graphs at the apex of the West African Ebola virus epidemic |
Table of graphs and parameters |
In March 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported a major Ebola outbreak in Guinea, a western African nation, [1] the disease then rapidly spread to the neighboring countries of Liberia and Sierra Leone with smaller outbreaks occurring in Senegal, Nigeria, and Mali; the resulting West African Ebola virus epidemic is the largest Ebola outbreak (cases and deaths) ever documented. [1]
Articles related to the |
Western African Ebola virus epidemic |
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Overview |
Nations with widespread cases |
Other affected nations |
Other outbreaks |
Researchers believe that a 2-year-old boy who lived in the village of Meliandou, Guéckédou Prefecture, Guinea was the index case of the current Ebola virus disease epidemic. The boy died in December 2013. His mother, sister, and grandmother then became ill with similar symptoms and also died. Although Ebola represents a significant public health problem in sub-Saharan Africa and was documented [2] in Tai Forest chimpanzees, only one case had been reported in humans in West Africa. [3] With this background and in the context of poor public health systems, [4] the early cases were mis-diagnosed as diseases more common to the area. Thus Ebola virus disease spread for several months before it was recognized as such. [5] [6] In late October 2014, the boy was later identified as Emile Ouamouno. [7] [8] In a Tuesday, December 30, 2014 online world news story article by Richard Ingham from the Agence France-Presse (AFP) that was featured on the MSN homepage, it was revealed that a tree in the area where children had played at, playing with insect-eating free-tailed bats and hunting and grilling them to eat (they are a cousin of another well-known Ebola reservoir, the fruit bat, whose role in this outbreak is not as clear), is believed to be the point where human infection – likely by the bats – with Ebola in this current outbreak occurred, the 'ground zero' of the epidemic. This is not yet known decisively, but scientists have enough knowledge to go public with the story. [9]
Data comes from reports by the World Health Organization Global Alert and Response Unit [Resource 1] and the WHO's Regional Office for Africa. [Resource 2] All numbers are correlated with United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), if available. [Resource 3] The reports are sourced from official information from the affected countries' health ministries. The WHO has stated the reported numbers "vastly underestimate the magnitude of the outbreak", estimating there may be 3 times as many cases as officially reported. [10] [11]
Each row of the table represents the best available information cross-checked from multiple sources on the day it was reported. The data may be inaccurate for the following reasons:[ citation needed ]
Date | Total | Guinea | Liberia | Sierra Leone | Sources | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cases | Deaths | Cases | Deaths | Cases | Deaths | Cases | Deaths | ||
25 Nov 2015 | 28,637 | 11,314 | 3,804 | 2,536 | 10,675 | 4,808 | 14,122 | 3,955 | [note 1] [13] |
18 Nov 2015 | 28,634 | 11,314 | 3,804 | 2,536 | 10,672 | 4,808 | 14,122 | 3,955 | [note 2] [14] |
11 Nov 2015 | 28,635 | 11,314 | 3,805 | 2,536 | 10,672 | 4,808 | 14,122 | 3,955 | [note 3] [15] |
4 Nov 2015 | 28,607 | 11,314 | 3,810 | 2,536 | 10,672 | 4,808 | 14,089 | 3,955 | [note 4] [16] |
25 Oct 2015 | 28,539 | 11,298 | 3,806 | 2,535 | 10,672 | 4,808 | 14,061 | 3,955 | [note 5] [17] |
18 Oct 2015 | 28,476 | 11,298 | 3,803 | 2,535 | 10,672 | 4,808 | 14,001 | 3,955 | [18] |
11 Oct 2015 | 28,454 | 11,297 | 3,800 | 2,534 | 10,672 | 4,808 | 13,982 | 3,955 | [note 6] [19] |
27 Sep 2015 | 28,388 | 11,296 | 3,805 | 2,533 | 10,672 | 4,808 | 13,911 | 3,955 | [20] |
20 Sep 2015 | 28,295 | 11,295 | 3,800 | 2,532 | 10,672 | 4,808 | 13,823 | 3,955 | [21] |
13 Sep 2015 | 28,220 | 11,291 | 3,792 | 2,530 | 10,672 | 4,808 | 13,756 | 3,953 | [22] |
6 Sep 2015 | 28,147 | 11,291 | 3,792 | 2,530 | 10,672 | 4,808 | 13,683 | 3,953 | [23] |
30 Aug 2015 | 28,073 | 11,290 | 3,792 | 2,529 | 10,672 | 4,808 | 13,609 | 3,953 | [24] |
16 Aug 2015 | 27,952 | 11,284 | 3,786 | 2,524 | 10,672 | 4,808 | 13,494 | 3,952 | [25] |
9 Aug 2015 | 27,929 | 11,283 | 3,787 | 2,524 | 10,672 | 4,808 | 13,470 | 3,951 | [26] |
26 Jul 2015 | 27,748 | 11,279 | 3,786 | 2,520 | 10,672 | 4,808 | 13,290 | 3,951 | [27] |
12 Jul 2015 | 27,642 | 11,261 | 3,760 | 2,506 | 10,673 | 4,808 | 13,209 | 3,947 | [28] |
5 Jul 2015 | 27,573 | 11,246 | 3,748 | 2,499 | 10,670 | 4,807 | 13,155 | 3,940 | [note 7] [29] [30] |
28 Jun 2015 | 27,514 | 11,220 | 3,729 | 2,482 | 10,666 | 4,806 | 13,119 | 3,932 | [31] |
21 Jun 2015 | 27,443 | 11,207 | 3,718 | 2,473 | 10,666 | 4,806 | 13,059 | 3,924 | [32] |
14 Jun 2015 | 27,305 | 11,169 | 3,674 | 2,444 | 10,666 | 4,806 | 12,965 | 3,919 | [33] |
31 May 2015 | 27,110 | 11,132 | 3,652 | 2,429 | 10,666 | 4,806 | 12,827 | 3,912 | [34] |
17 May 2015 | 26,898 | 11,105 | 3,635 | 2,407 | 10,666 | 4,806 | 12,632 | 3,907 | [35] |
3 May 2015 | 26,558 | 10,990 | 3,589 | 2,386 | 10,564 | 4,716 | 12,440 | 3,903 | [36] |
19 Apr 2015 | 26,009 | 10,793 | 3,565 | 2,358 | 10,212 | 4,573 | 12,267 | 3,877 | [37] |
5 Apr 2015 | 25,480 | 10,557 | 3,515 | 2,333 | 9,862 | 4,408 | 12,138 | 3,831 | [38] |
22 Mar 2015 | 24,837 | 10,296 | 3,429 | 2,263 | 9,602 | 4,301 | 11,841 | 3,747 | [39] |
8 Mar 2015 | 24,282 | 9,976 | 3,285 | 2,170 | ≥9,343 | ≥4,162 | 11,619 | 3,629 | [40] |
22 Feb 2015 | 23,659 | 9,574 | 3,155 | 2,091 | 9,238 | 4,037 | 11,301 | 3,461 | [41] |
8 Feb 2015 | 22,824 | 9,147 | 3,044 | 1,995 | ≥8,881 | ≥3,826 | 10,934 | 3,341 | [42] |
25 Jan 2015 | 22,022 | 8,780 | 2,917 | 1,910 | 8,622 | 3,686 | 10,518 | 3,199 | [43] |
11 Jan 2015 | 21,226 | 8,399 | 2,806 | 1,814 | 8,331 | 3,538 | 10,124 | 3,062 | [44] |
28 Dec 2014 | 20,171 | 7,890 | 2,707 | 1,709 | 8,018 | 3,423 | 9,446 | 2,758 | [45] |
14 Dec 2014 | 18,565 | 7,273 | 2,415 | 1,525 | 7,819 | 3,346 | 8,356 | 2,417 | [46] [47] [48] |
30 Nov 2014 | 17,110 | 6,397 | 2,164 | 1,325 | 7,653 | 3,157 | 7,312 | 1,915 | [49] [50] [51] |
18 Nov 2014 | 15,291 | 5,765 | 2,047 | 1,214 | 7,082 | 2,963 | 6,190 | 1,598 | [52] [53] |
2 Nov 2014 | 13,015 | 5,188 | 1,731 | 1,041 | 6,525 | 2,697 | 4,759 | 1,450 | [54] [55] |
19 Oct 2014 | 9,911 | 4,890 | 1,540 | 926 | 4,665 | 2,705 | 3,706 | 1,259 | [56] |
12 Oct 2014 | 8,950 | 4,476 | 1,472 | 843 | 4,249 | 2,458 | 3,252 | 1,183 | [57] |
28 Sep 2014 | 7,169 | 3,278 | 1,157 | 710 | 3,696 | 1,998 | 2,317 | 570 | [58] [59] |
14 Sep 2014 | 5,327 | 2,578 | 942 | 601 | 2,720 | 1,461 | 1,655 | 516 | [60] [61] [62] |
31 Aug 2014 | 3,664 | 1,794 | 771 | 494 | 1,698 | 871 | 1,216 | 436 | [63] [64] |
16 Aug 2014 | 2,225 | 1,225 | 543 | 394 | 834 | 466 | 848 | 365 | [65] |
9 Aug 2014 | 1,835 | 1,011 | 506 | 373 | 599 | 323 | 730 | 315 | [66] |
30 Jul 2014 | 1,437 | 825 | 472 | 346 | 391 | 227 | 574 | 252 | [67] |
23 Jul 2014 | 1,201 | 672 | 427 | 319 | 249 | 129 | 525 | 224 | [68] |
14 Jul 2014 | 982 | 613 | 411 | 310 | 174 | 106 | 397 | 197 | [69] |
2 Jul 2014 | 779 | 481 | 412 | 305 | 115 | 75 | 252 | 101 | [70] |
17 Jun 2014 | 528 | 337 | 398 | 264 | 33 | 24 | 97 | 49 | [71] |
27 May 2014 | 309 | 202 | 281 | 186 | 12 | 11 | 16 | 5 | [72] |
12 May 2014 | 260 | 182 | 248 | 171 | 12 | 11 | – | – | [73] [74] |
1 May 2014 | 239 | 160 | 226 | 149 | 13 | 11 | – | – | [75] |
14 Apr 2014 | 176 | 110 | 168 | 108 | 8 | 2 | – | – | [76] |
31 Mar 2014 | 130 | 82 | 122 | 80 | 8 | 2 | – | – | [77] |
22 Mar 2014 | 49 | 29 | 49 | 29 | – | – | – | – | [78] |
Date | Total | Nigeria | Senegal | USA | Spain | Mali | U.K. | Italy | Refs | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cases | Deaths | Cases | Deaths | Cases | Deaths | Cases | Deaths | Cases | Deaths | Cases | Deaths | Cases | Deaths | Cases | Deaths | ||
4 Nov 2015 | 36 | 15 | 20 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | [note 8] [24] |
13 May 2015 | 36 | 15 | 20 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | [note 9] [79] |
29 Dec 2014 | 35 | 15 | 20 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 0 | – | – | [note 10] [45] |
14 Dec 2014 | 32 | 15 | 20 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 6 | – | – | – | – | [46] |
2 Nov 2014 | 27 | 10 | 20 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | – | – | – | – | [54] |
19 Oct 2014 | 25 | 9 | 20 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | – | – | – | – | – | [56] |
12 Oct 2014 | 23 | 8 | 20 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | - | – | – | – | – | – | [57] |
28 Sep 2014 | 22 | 8 | 20 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | - | – | - | – | – | – | – | – | [58] |
31 Aug 2014 | 22 | 7 | 21 | 7 | 1 | 0 | – | – | - | – | - | – | – | – | – | – | [63] |
16 Aug 2014 | 15 | 4 | 15 | 4 | – | – | - | – | - | – | - | – | – | – | – | – | [65] |
9 Aug 2014 | 13 | 2 | 13 | 2 | – | – | - | – | - | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | [66] |
30 Jul 2014 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | – | – | – | – | - | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | [67] |
Notes:
Guinea faces a number of ongoing health challenges.
Ebola, also known as Ebola virus disease (EVD) and Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF), is a viral hemorrhagic fever in humans and other primates, caused by ebolaviruses. Symptoms typically start anywhere between two days and three weeks after infection. The first symptoms are usually fever, sore throat, muscle pain, and headaches. These are usually followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rash and decreased liver and kidney function, at which point some people begin to bleed both internally and externally. It kills between 25% and 90% of those infected – about 50% on average. Death is often due to shock from fluid loss, and typically occurs between six and 16 days after the first symptoms appear. Early treatment of symptoms increases the survival rate considerably compared to late start. An Ebola vaccine was approved by the US FDA in December 2019.
The 2013–2016 epidemic of Ebola virus disease, centered in West Africa, was the most widespread outbreak of the disease in history. It caused major loss of life and socioeconomic disruption in the region, mainly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The first cases were recorded in Guinea in December 2013; the disease spread to neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone, with minor outbreaks occurring in Nigeria and Mali. Secondary infections of medical workers occurred in the United States and Spain. Isolated cases were recorded in Senegal, the United Kingdom and Italy. The number of cases peaked in October 2014 and then began to decline gradually, following the commitment of substantial international resources.
A public health emergency of international concern is a formal declaration by the World Health Organization (WHO) of "an extraordinary event which is determined to constitute a public health risk to other States through the international spread of disease and to potentially require a coordinated international response", formulated when a situation arises that is "serious, sudden, unusual, or unexpected", which "carries implications for public health beyond the affected state's national border" and "may require immediate international action". Under the 2005 International Health Regulations (IHR), states have a legal duty to respond promptly to a PHEIC. The declaration is publicized by an IHR Emergency Committee (EC) of international experts, which was developed following the 2002–2004 SARS outbreak.
Recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus–Zaire Ebola virus (rVSV-ZEBOV), also known as Ebola Zaire vaccine live and sold under the brand name Ervebo, is an Ebola vaccine for adults that prevents Ebola caused by the Zaire ebolavirus. When used in ring vaccination, rVSV-ZEBOV has shown a high level of protection. Around half the people given the vaccine have mild to moderate adverse effects that include headache, fatigue, and muscle pain.
An Ebola virus epidemic in Sierra Leone occurred in 2014, along with the neighbouring countries of Guinea and Liberia. At the time it was discovered, it was thought that Ebola virus was not endemic to Sierra Leone or to the West African region and that the epidemic represented the first time the virus was discovered there. However, US researchers pointed to lab samples used for Lassa fever testing to suggest that Ebola had been in Sierra Leone as early as 2006.
In 2014, an outbreak of Ebola virus disease in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) occurred. Genome sequencing has shown that this outbreak was not related to the 2014–15 West Africa Ebola virus epidemic, but was of the same EBOV species. It began in August 2014 and was declared over in November of that year, after 42 days without any new cases. This is the 7th outbreak there, three of which occurred during the period of Zaire.
An epidemic of Ebola virus disease in Guinea from 2013 to 2016 represented the first-ever outbreak of Ebola in a West African country. Previous outbreaks had been confined to several countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.
An epidemic of Ebola virus disease occurred in Liberia from 2014 to 2015, along with the neighbouring countries of Guinea and Sierra Leone. The first cases of virus were reported by late March 2014. The Ebola virus, a biosafety level four pathogen, is an RNA virus discovered in 1976.
Organizations from around the world responded to the West African Ebola virus epidemic. In July 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) convened an emergency meeting with health ministers from eleven countries and announced collaboration on a strategy to co-ordinate technical support to combat the epidemic. In August, they declared the outbreak an international public health emergency and published a roadmap to guide and coordinate the international response to the outbreak, aiming to stop ongoing Ebola transmission worldwide within 6–9 months. In September, the United Nations Security Council declared the Ebola virus outbreak in the West Africa subregion a "threat to international peace and security" and unanimously adopted a resolution urging UN member states to provide more resources to fight the outbreak; the WHO stated that the cost for combating the epidemic will be a minimum of $1 billion.
This article covers the timeline of the 2014 Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa and its outbreaks elsewhere. Flag icons denote the first announcements of confirmed cases by the respective nation-states, their first deaths, and their first secondary transmissions, as well as relevant sessions and announcements of agencies such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and NGOs such as Doctors Without Borders; medical evacuations, visa restrictions, border closures, quarantines, court rulings, and possible cases of zoonosis are also included.
Ebola virus disease in Mali occurred in October 2014, leading to concern about the possibility of an outbreak of Ebola in Mali. A child was brought from Guinea and died in the northwestern city of Kayes. Mali contact traced over 100 people who had contact with the child; tracing was completed in mid-November with no further cases discovered. In November, a second unrelated outbreak occurred in Mali's capital city, Bamako. Several people at a clinic are thought to have been infected by a man traveling from Guinea. On January 18, Mali was declared Ebola-free after 42 days with no new cases. There had been a cumulative total of eight cases with six deaths.
The following lists events that happened during 2014 in Sierra Leone.
Cases of the Ebola virus disease in Nigeria were reported in 2014 as a small part of the epidemic of Ebola virus disease which originated in Guinea that represented the first outbreak of the disease in a West African country. Previous outbreaks had been confined to countries in Central Africa.
On 11 May 2017, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) was identified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as having one Ebola-related death.
The 2018 Équateur province Ebola outbreak occurred in the north-west of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) from May to July 2018. It was contained entirely within Équateur province, and was the first time that vaccination with the rVSV-ZEBOV Ebola vaccine had been attempted in the early stages of an Ebola outbreak, with a total of 3,481 people vaccinated. It was the ninth recorded Ebola outbreak in the DRC.
The Kivu Ebola epidemic was an outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) mainly in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and in other parts of Central Africa, from 2018 to 2020. Between 1 August 2018 and 25 June 2020 it resulted in 3,470 reported cases. The Kivu outbreak also affected Ituri Province, whose first case was confirmed on 13 August 2018. In November 2018, the outbreak became the biggest Ebola outbreak in the DRC's history, and had become the second-largest Ebola outbreak in recorded history worldwide, behind only the 2013–2016 Western Africa epidemic. In June 2019, the virus reached Uganda, having infected a 5-year-old Congolese boy who entered Uganda with his family, but was contained.
In August–November 1976, an outbreak of Ebola virus disease occurred in Zaire. The first recorded case was from Yambuku, a small village in Mongala District, 1,098 kilometres (682 mi) northeast of the capital city of Kinshasa.
On 7 February 2021, the Congolese health ministry announced that a new case of Ebola near Butembo, North Kivu had been detected the previous day. The case was a 42-year-old woman who had symptoms of Ebola in Biena on 1 February 2021. A few days after, she died in a hospital in Butembo. The WHO said that more than 70 people who had contact with the woman had been tracked.