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Ebola, a haemorrhagic fever, killed at least 11,000 people worldwide after decimating West Africa and quickly spread over a two-year period.
This outbreak was officially declared over in January 2016, when the WHO announced that Liberia would be free of the Ebola virus.
The country, shaken by consecutive civil wars that ended in 2003, was the hardest hit by the fever, with 40% of deaths occurring in the country.
Sierra Leone has had the highest number of Ebola cases, with almost all infected people being residents of the country.
Where did he start?
An analysis, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, revealed that the epidemic had begun in neighboring Guinea – Liberia and Sierra Leone.
A team of international researchers was able to trace the epidemic to Meliandou, a two-year-old boy about 650 km from the capital, Conakry.
Emile Ouamouno, more commonly known as Patient Zero, may have contracted the deadly virus by playing with bats in a hollow tree, a study suggested.
HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE BEEN STRUCK DOWN?
| COUNTRY | CASES | DEATHS | MORTALITY RATE (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| GUINEA | 3,814 | 2,544 | 66.7% |
| SIERRA LEONE | 14.124 | 3,956 | 28.0% |
| LIBERIA | 10,678 | 4,810 | 45.0% |
| NIGERIA | 20 | 8 | 40.0% |
| SENEGAL | 1 | 0 | N / A |
| SPAIN | 1 | 0 | N / A |
| WE | 4 | 1 | 25.0% |
| MALI | 8 | 6 | 75.0% |
| UK | 1 | 0 | N / A |
| ITALY | 1 | 0 | N / A |
The figures show that nearly 29,000 people have been infected with the Ebola virus, which means that the virus has killed about 40% of those infected.
Cases and deaths have also been reported in Nigeria, Mali and the United States – but on a much smaller scale, with 15 deaths in all three countries.
Guinean health officials reported a mysterious virus in the southeastern part of the country before the WHO confirmed that it was Ebola.
Scientists identified the Ebola virus in 1976, but the numbers show that the most recent epidemic has overshadowed all others.
How did the man contract the virus?
Scientists believe that Ebola is most commonly transmitted to humans by bats, but antelopes, porcupines, gorillas and chimpanzees could also be implicated.
It can be transmitted between humans through the blood, secretions and other bodily fluids of infected people – and surfaces -.
IS THERE A TREATMENT?
The WHO warns that there is "no proven treatment" for Ebola – but dozens of drugs and bites are being tested in the event of such a devastating epidemic.
There is hope, however, since an experimental vaccine called rVSV-ZEBOV has protected nearly 6,000 people. The results were published in the newspaper The Lancet.
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