The West African Ebola Epidemic (2013–2016)
The largest Ebola outbreak in history, which spread through Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, killed more than 11,000 people, exposed weaknesses in global outbreak response, and led to the development of the first licensed Ebola vaccine.
Events
The First Death in Meliandou
A two-year-old boy in the remote village of Meliandou died after a brief feverish illness in late December 2013; researchers later identified him as the epidemic's index case. The virus spread silently through funerals and care-giving for months before it was recognized.
Location: Meliandou, Guinea
Guinea Confirms the Outbreak
The Guinea Ministry of Health notified WHO of a rapidly spreading hemorrhagic illness confirmed as Ebola virus disease. By this point, 49 cases and 29 deaths were already reported, with infections scattered across a wide area of southeastern Guinea.
Location: Conakry, Guinea
The Virus Spreads to Sierra Leone and Liberia
Sierra Leone confirmed its first Ebola cases in late May, followed by Liberia. By mid-2014 the epidemic spanned three countries with porous borders and health systems weakened by years of conflict, and traditional burial practices involving touching the dead continued to amplify transmission.
Location: Kailahun, Sierra Leone
WHO Declares a Global Health Emergency
With cases surging in Monrovia and Freetown, the World Health Organization declared the Ebola epidemic a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. The declaration came after criticism that the global response had been slow and that WHO itself had acknowledged delayed escalation.
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
Community Distrust and Attacks on Responders
Residents of the West Point neighborhood of Monrovia attacked an Ebola holding center, protesting the quarantine of their community and distrusting outbreak statistics. Rumors and denial shaped the epidemic's course throughout the region, and responders were sometimes met with hostility or violence.
Location: Monrovia, Liberia
Ebola Reaches the United States and Europe
A Liberian man, Thomas Eric Duncan, was diagnosed with Ebola in Dallas and died on October 8; two nurses who treated him were infected and recovered. Imported cases and subsequent infections of healthcare workers in Spain and the UK triggered intense public debate in Western countries about screening and quarantine policies.
Location: Dallas, Texas, USA
An Effective Vaccine Emerges Mid-Outbreak
The Lancet published interim results of the rVSV-ZEBOV ring-vaccination trial in Guinea, showing no cases among those vaccinated immediately, versus delayed clusters. The trial had been organized during the outbreak itself; the vaccine was later licensed (as Ervebo) in Europe in 2019 and in the United States.
Location: Conakry, Guinea
Countries Declare the End of Transmission
Sierra Leone was declared Ebola-free in November 2015, following similar declarations for Liberia in May and preceding Guinea's in December. Flare-ups occurred after each declaration, and Liberia was declared Ebola-free three separate times before the epidemic fully subsided.
Location: Freetown, Sierra Leone
WHO Declares the End of the Epidemic and Its Flare-Ups
WHO declared the end of the West African Ebola epidemic's final flare-ups, closing an outbreak that had caused about 28,600 cases and more than 11,000 deaths — more than all previous Ebola outbreaks combined. The epidemic prompted reforms in outbreak response and research on vaccines and therapeutics.
Location: Geneva, Switzerland