The worst outbreak of Ebola , which has killed 961 people and triggered an international public health emergency , may have started with a 2-year-old patient in a village in Guinea . About eight months ago , the toddler , whom researchers believe may have been Patient Zero , suffered fever , black stool and vomiting . Just four days after showing the painful symptoms , the child died on December 6 , 2013 , according to a report published in The New England Journal of Medicine . Scientists do n't know exactly how the toddler contracted the virus . Ebola is spread from animals to humans through infected fluids or tissue , according to the World Health Organization . `` In Africa , infection has been documented through the handling of infected chimpanzees , gorillas , fruit bats , monkeys , forest antelope and porcupines , '' WHO says , though researchers think fruit bats are what they call the virus 's `` natural host . '' Researchers who published the paper this year found a chain of illnesses in the toddler 's family . After the child 's death , the mother suffered bleeding symptoms and died on December 13 , according to the report . Then , the toddler 's 3-year-old sister died on December 29 , with symptoms including fever , vomiting and black diarrhea . The illness subsequently affected the toddler 's grandmother , who died on January 1 , in the family 's village of Meliandou in Guéckédou . The area in southern Guinea is close to the Sierra Leone and Liberia borders . The illness spread outside their village after several people attended the grandmother 's funeral . Funerals tend to bring people in close contact with the body . Ebola spreads from person to person through contact with organs and bodily fluids such as blood , saliva , urine and other secretions of infected people . It has no known cure . Two of the funeral attendees appeared to bring back the virus to their village , and it spread to health care workers and other family members who took care of infected patients . `` A health care worker from Guéckédou with suspected disease , seems to have triggered the spread of the virus to Macenta , Nzérékoré , and Kissidougou in February 2014 , '' stated the report , noting that more Guinea towns were affected . Clusters of the disease popped up in early 2014 in these areas , with the initial patients suffering fever , vomiting and severe diarrhea , according to the report . Hemorrhaging was less frequent , the report noted . In early March , the Ministry of Health in Guinea and Doctors Without Borders in Guinea were notified about the disease clusters . Health investigators arrived that month and began tracing the disease by examining hospital documents and conducting interviews with affected families and villagers . Ebola has now spread to Liberia , Sierra Leone and Nigeria , prompting global concerns . The report about the emergence of Ebola in Guinea was authored by dozens of international doctors and researchers from institutions in France , Germany , Guinea , WHO and Doctors Without Borders . WHO panel to discuss Ebola drug ethics .
New England Journal of Medicine report : Guinea toddler was the first suspected case . The child died in a village in Guinea on December 6 , 2013 . The illness spread to family members and mourners who attended a funeral . The Ebola outbreak is now in four countries , with 961 people dead .