On Jul. 9, 2014, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) activated its Emergency Operations Center to respond to the largest Ebola outbreak in history affecting multiple countries in West Africa. The CDC coordinated the response at the national level, and trained teams to perform contact tracing.

The Ebola epidemic in West Africa shook the world, ultimately claiming more than 11,000 lives.  Nearly 1,500 CDC staff were deployed to West Africa, working side by side with healthcare workers and Ministries of Health to contain the outbreak.