Ebola in the world: timeline of the deadly disease

Danielle Gonzalez, Contributing Writer|November 15, 2014

Photo Courtesy of Wiki Commons

Ebola-free nurse Nina Pham visits President Obama in the White House.

  • 1976: First outbreak occurs in Zaire (Democratic Republic of the Congo), killing 88% of those infected with the virus.
  • December 2013: Nearly four decades later, a two-year-old from south-eastern Guinea is the first to die in the latest outbreak of the Ebola virus.
  • July 2014: Nigeria reports its first case of Ebola. Two doctors from Liberia and Sierra Leone die of Ebola.
  • August 2014: United Nations health agency declares the outbreak an “international public health emergency.”
  • Sept. 19: Liberian national Thomas Eric Duncan travels from Monrovia, Liberia, to the United States on a trip to visit family. Days later he experiences high fever and nausea and is sent to the hospital.
  • Sept. 30: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirms that the cause of Duncan’s symptoms is the Ebola virus.
  • Oct. 4: Doctors treat Duncan with the experimental drug Brand Cidofovir. Dr. Kent Brantly, the doctor cured of Ebola, attempts to donate plasma to Duncan but their plasma types are incompatible.
  • Oct. 8: Duncan dies at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas.
  • Oct. 10-12 : Nurse Nina Pham, who treated Duncan, notices a fever and is admitted to the hospital. Nina Pham tests positive for the Ebola virus.
  • Oct. 13: Nurse Amber Vinson, who also treated Duncan before his death, develops a fever.
  • Oct. 13: Pham’s pet King Charles Spaniel is held under monitoring for 21 days.
  • Oct. 14: Vinson is admitted to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas.
  • Oct. 14: National Nurses United releases a statement criticizing the conditions under which nurses Pham and Vinson worked, arguing that the staff treated Duncan for days without the necessary protective gear, equipment, and training to safely handle the situation.
  • Oct. 15: Vinson tests positive for the Ebola virus, and is transferred to Emory Healthcare in Atlanta.
  • Oct. 24: Emory Healthcare states Vinson’s condition is better, with tests detecting no virus in her blood.
  • Oct. 28: Vinson is discharged from the hospital, free of the Ebola virus.
  • Nov. 4: The current Ebola outbreak has killed an estimated 4,960 people. Reported number of cases exceed 13,000.
  • Nov. 13: The total number of deaths worldwide rises to 5,160. Total confirmed cases now stand at 14,098, showing how rapidly the virus is spreading.