January 1, 1976
First recognition of the EBOV disease is in Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo). The outbreak has 318 reported human cases leading to 280 deaths. An SUDV outbreak also occurs in Sudan (now South Sudan) which incurs 284 cases and 151 deaths.

First recognition of the EBOV disease is in Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo). The outbreak has 318 reported human cases leading to 280 deaths. An SUDV outbreak also occurs in Sudan (now South Sudan) which incurs 284 cases and 151 deaths.

In Reston Virginia macaque monkeys imported from the Philippines are found to be infected with the Ebola virus (later named the Ebola-Reston virus).

In Texas and Virginia quarantine facilities four humans develop Ebola antibodies after contact with monkeys imported from the Philippines. None of the humans has symptoms.

An outbreak in Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire) leads to 315 reported cases and at least 250 deaths.

A Ugandan outbreak (SUDV) results in 425 human cases and 224 deaths.

An EBOV outbreak occurs on the border of Gabon and Republic of the Congo (ROC) which results in 53 deaths on the Gabon side and at least 43 deaths on the Republic of the Congo side.

An EBOV outbreak in Republic of the Congo results in 143 reported cases and 128 deaths.

An EBOV outbreak occurs in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) 187 of the 264 cases reported result in death. In late 2007 an outbreak in Uganda leads to 37 deaths. 149 cases were reported.

The Ebola-Reston virus (RESTV) is detected in five humans in the Philippines. They are workers on a pig farm and slaughterhouse and suffer no symptoms. This is the first known occurrence of the Reston virus in pigs.

The CDC issues its initial announcement on an outbreak in Guinea and reports of cases in Liberia and Sierra Leone. "In Guinea a total of 86 suspected cases including 59 deaths (case fatality ratio: 68.5%) had been reported as of March 24 2014. Preliminary results from the Pasteur Institute in Lyon France suggest Zaire ebolavirus as the causative agent."

The New England Journal of Medicine publishes a report speculating that the current outbreak's Patient Zero was a two-year-old from Guinea. The child died on December 6 2013 followed by his mother sister and grandmother over the next month.

Patrick Sawyer a top government official in the Liberian Ministry of Finance dies at a local Nigerian hospital. He is the first American to die in what officials are calling "deadliest Ebola outbreak in history."

Nancy Writebol an American aid worker in Liberia tests positive for Ebola. According to Samaritan's Purse Writebol is infected while treating Ebola patients in Liberia.

Kent Brantly medical director for Samaritan Purse's Ebola Consolidated Case Management Center in Liberia is infected with the virus. According to Samaritan's Purse Brantly is infected while treating Ebola patients.

According to Doctors Without Borders Dr. Sheik Humarr Khan who was overseeing Ebola treatment at Kenema Government Hospital in Sierra Leone dies from complications of the disease.

The Peace Corps announces it is removing its volunteers from Liberia Sierra Leone and Guinea.

CDC raises its warning to Level 3. It warns U.S. residents to avoid "nonessential travel" to Sierra Leone Guinea and Liberia.

A specially equipped medical plane carrying Ebola patient Dr. Kent Brantly lands at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta Georgia. He is then driven by ambulance to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.

CNN reports that three top secret experimental vials of the drug "ZMapp" were flown into Liberia last week in a last-ditch effort to save Brantly and Writebol according to a source familiar with details of the treatment. Doctors report "significant improvement."

Nancy Writebol arrives at Emory in Atlanta for treatment.

Experts at the World Health Organization declare the Ebola epidemic ravaging West Africa an international health emergency that requires a coordinated global approach describing it as the worst outbreak in the four-decade history of tracking the disease.

Liberia's President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf declares a nationwide curfew beginning August 20 and orders two communities to be completely quarantined with no movement in or out of the areas.

Dr. Kent Brantly is discharged from Emory University Hospital. It is also announced that Nancy Writebol had been released on Tuesday August 19. The releases come after Emory staff are confident Brantly and Writebol pose "no public health threat."

The Ministry of Health in the Democratic Republic of the Congo notifies the World Health Organization of an Ebola outbreak in the country. It is the seventh outbreak in the country since 1976 when the virus was first identified near the Ebola river. The outbreak is not related to the ongoing outbreak in Guinea Liberia Nigeria and Sierra Leone. As of October 21 67 cases and 49 deaths have been reported in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The government of Sierra Leone announces plans for a nationwide lockdown from September 19-21 in order to stop the spread of Ebola. The lockdown is being billed as a predominantly social campaign rather than a medical one in which volunteers will go door-to-door to talk to people.

President Barack Obama calls the efforts to combat the Ebola outbreak centered in West Africa "the largest international response in the history of the CDC." Speaking from the CDC headquarters in Atlanta Obama adds that "faced with this outbreak the world is looking to" the United States to lead international efforts to combat the virus. He says the United States is ready to take on that leadership role.

Dr. Thomas Frieden director of the CDC announces the first diagnosed case of Ebola in the United States. The person has been hospitalized and isolated at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas Texas since September 28.

Liberian government officials release the name of the first diagnosed case of Ebola in the United States: Thomas Eric Duncan.

A nurse's assistant in Spain becomes the first person known to have contracted Ebola outside Africa in the current outbreak. The woman helped treat two Spanish missionaries both of whom had contracted Ebola in West Africa one in Liberia and the other in Sierra Leone. Both died after returning to Spain. On October 19 Spain's Special Ebola Committee says that nurse's aide Teresa Romero Ramos is considered free of the Ebola virus.

NBC freelance cameraman Ashoka Mukpo arrives at Nebraska Medical Center for treatment after contracting Ebola in Liberia. On October 21 the hospital says that Mukpo no longer has the Ebola virus in his bloodstream and will be allowed to leave.

Thomas Eric Duncan dies of Ebola in Dallas.

Nina Pham a Dallas nurse who cared for the now-deceased Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan tests positive for Ebola during a preliminary blood test. She is the first person to contract Ebola on American soil.

Amber Vinson a second Dallas nurse who also cared for Thomas Eric Duncan is diagnosed with Ebola. Authorities say Vinson flew on a commercial jet from Cleveland to Dallas days before testing positive for Ebola.

Under fire in the wake of Ebola cases involving two Dallas nurses the CDC issues updated Ebola guidelines that stress the importance of more training and supervision and recommend that no skin be exposed when workers are wearing personal protective equipment or PPE.

Craig Spencer a 33 year-old doctor who recently returned from Guinea has tested positive for Ebola -- the first case of the deadly virus in New York City and the fourth diagnosed in the United States.

The National Institutes of Health announces one of the Dallas nurses Nina Pham has been declared free of the Ebola virus. Doctors at Emory University Hospital say tests no longer detect the virus in the blood of the other nurse Amber Vinson. Also in response to the New York Ebola case the governors of New York and New Jersey announce that their states were stepping up airport screening beyond federal requirements for travelers from West Africa. The new protocol mandates a quarantine for any individual including medical personnel who has had direct contact with individuals infected with Ebola while in Liberia Sierra Leone or Guinea. The policy allows the states to determine hospitalization or quarantine for up to 21 days for other travelers from affected countries.

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