Four maps that explain the Ebola outbreak

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In this graphic, my colleague Rich Van Haste has mapped out the global outbreak and the seven nations where Ebola cases have been diagnosed.

The map does not include a separate outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo. That outbreak has infected an estimated 68 people, killing 49 of them.

How Nigeria stopped Ebola in its tracks

Since the outbreak began, more than 400 health care workers have been infected, and more than half of those workers have died of the fast-acting disease.

Ebola does not spread easily through casual contact, but health care workers tend to have a lot of contact with the bodily fluids of Ebola patients, which transmit the virus.

Care providers—especially nurses—treating patients at the end of their lives face an especially high risk because the virus replicates more rapidly as the disease progresses, according to Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine in Houston. By comparison, physicians treating patients in the ED would be less likely to become infected—despite fewer precautions—because patients in the early stages are not as infectious.

Understand why health care workers are so susceptible

This summer, Ebola first arrived in the United States—by a secure airplane with a biocontainment unit.

Emory University Hospital agreed to care for two U.S. missionaries who became infected while caring for patients in West Africa. It was the first of a handful of hospitals to care for Ebola patients, including one Dallas hospital that diagnosed the first U.S. Ebola patient.

With the U.S. cases, health authorities are struggling to identify and monitor hundreds of people who may have had contact with the first U.S. patient with Ebola and two infected nurses who cared for him.

Officials now are notifying, monitoring, or quarantining several different types of possible contacts with the three Ebola patients, including:

• Individuals who may have been in contact with Duncan before he was hospitalized;
• Health workers who cared for Duncan in the hospital;
• Individuals who may have been in contact with the two infected nurses before they were hospitalized; and
• Individuals who may have been in contact with one of the nurses when she traveled to Ohio just before being diagnosed with the virus.

This graphic by my colleague Christina Lin breaks down the issue:

What you need to know about Ebola

The Daily Briefing has been tracking the Ebola outbreak since early 2014, and the Advisory Board's experts have created myriad resources for hospitals to help them prepare for the potential cases and reassure their communities about the disease.

Here's an overview of our top coverage and resources.

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