Western African Ebola epidemic facts for kids
Simplified Ebola virus epidemic situation map
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| Date | December 2013 – June 2016 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Quick facts for kids Casualties |
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The 2013–2016 epidemic of Ebola virus disease, centered in Western 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; later, 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. In addition, 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.
It caused significant mortality, with a considerable case fatality rate. By the end of the epidemic, 28,616 people had been infected; of these, 11,310 had died, for a case-fatality rate of 40%. As of 8 May 2016[update], the World Health Organization (WHO) and respective governments reported a total of 28,646 suspected cases and 11,323 deaths (39.5%), though the WHO believes that this substantially understates the magnitude of the outbreak. On 8 August 2014, a Public Health Emergency of International Concern was declared and on 29 March 2016, the WHO terminated the Public Health Emergency of International Concern status of the outbreak. Subsequent flare-ups occurred; the epidemic was finally declared over on 9 June 2016, 42 days after the last case tested negative on 28 April 2016 in Monrovia.
The outbreak left about 17,000 survivors of the disease, many of whom report post-recovery symptoms termed post-Ebola syndrome, often severe enough to require medical care for months or even years. An additional cause for concern is the apparent ability of the virus to "hide" in a recovered survivor's body for an extended period of time and then become active months or years later. In December 2016, the WHO announced that a two-year trial of the rVSV-ZEBOV vaccine appeared to offer protection from the variant of EBOV responsible for the Western Africa outbreak. The vaccine is considered to be effective and is the only prophylactic which offers protection; hence, 300,000 doses have been stockpiled. rVSV-ZEBOV received regulatory approval in 2019.
Timeline of reported cases and deaths
| Date | Total | Guinea | Liberia | Sierra Leone | Sources | ||||
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| Cases | Deaths | Cases | Deaths | Cases | Deaths | Cases | Deaths | ||
| 14 January 2016 | 28,542 | 11,299 | 3,806 | 2,535 | 10,675 | 4,809 | 14,061 | 3,955 | |
| 23 December 2015 | 28,542 | 11,299 | 3,806 | 2,535 | 10,676 | 4,809 | 14,061 | 3,955 | |
| 9 December 2015 | 28,542 | 11,299 | 3,806 | 2,535 | 10,675 | 4,809 | 14,061 | 3,955 | |
| 25 November 2015 | 28,539 | 11,298 | 3,806 | 2,535 | 10,672 | 4,808 | 14,061 | 3,955 | |
| 11 November 2015 | 28,539 | 11,298 | 3,806 | 2,535 | 10,672 | 4,808 | 14,061 | 3,955 | |
| 25 October 2015 | 28,539 | 11,298 | 3,800 | 2,534 | 10,672 | 4,808 | 14,061 | 3,955 | |
| 11 October 2015 | 28,454 | 11,297 | 3,800 | 2,534 | 10,672 | 4,808 | 13,982 | 3,955 | |
| Note 1: Cases include confirmed, probable and suspected per the WHO, numbers are the cumulative figures as published on the given date, and due to retrospective revisions, differences between successive weekly totals are not necessarily the number of new cases that week. Note 2: Data are from reports by the WHO Global Alert and Response Unit and the WHO's Regional Office for Africa. All numbers are correlated with UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), if available. The reports were sourced from official information from the affected countries' health ministries. The WHO has stated that the reported numbers "vastly underestimate the magnitude of the outbreak", estimating there may be three times as many cases as officially reported. |
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| Date | Aggregate Total | Nigeria | Senegal | United States | Spain | Mali | United Kingdom | Italy | Refs | ||||||||
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| Cases | Deaths | Cases | Deaths | Cases | Deaths | Cases | Deaths | Cases | Deaths | Cases | Deaths | Cases | Deaths | Cases | Deaths | ||
| 30 August 2015 | 36 | 15 | 20 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| 29 December 2014 | 35 | 15 | 20 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 0 | – | – | |
| 14 December 2014 | 32 | 15 | 20 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 6 | – | – | – | – | |
| 2 November 2014 | 27 | 10 | 20 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | – | – | – | – | |
| 12 October 2014 | 23 | 8 | 20 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | - | – | – | – | – | – | |
| 28 September 2014 | 22 | 8 | 20 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | - | – | - | – | – | – | – | – | |
| 30 July 2014 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |
| Note 1:This table contains countries that had limited local cases. Note 2:Date is the "as of" date from the reference. A single source may report statistics for multiple "as of" dates. |
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See also
- Health crisis
Images for kids
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Monthly aggregate Ebola cases in the Western Africa epidemic 2014–15
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Outbreak distribution map affected part of Western Africa (17 December 2014)
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Kenema Hospital, Sierra Leone
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Ebola crisis: More UK aid arrives in Sierra Leone
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An Ebola treatment unit in Liberia
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Malian regions with Ebola cases (Kayes/Bamako), November 2014
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Ebola virus particles using electron micrograph
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The life cycles of the Ebolavirus
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Nigerian doctors training on PPE by WHO
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Quarantine travel pass for individuals providing assistance
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Practising taking blood in PPE
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WHO workers gear up to go to Ebola ward Nigeria, 2014
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Ebola treatment centre built by the UK in Kerry Town, Sierra Leone, in 2014
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Researcher working on Ebola virus
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 | Dorothy Vaughan |
 | Charles Henry Turner |
 | Hildrus Poindexter |
 | Henry Cecil McBay |
