Ebola-related events in the United States and response

(Reuters) - Health agencies around the world are grappling with the worst Ebola epidemic since the virus was identified in 1976. The following is a chronology of events in the United States and the government's response at home and abroad from the time the World Health Organization identified the beginnings of the outbreak in early 2014 in Guinea: March 22: Guinea confirms hemorrhagic fever that killed more than 50 people is Ebola. March 30: Liberia reports two Ebola cases; suspected cases in Sierra Leone. May 26: WHO confirms first Ebola deaths in Sierra Leone. July 25: Nigeria confirms its first Ebola case. July 31: U.S. Peace Corps withdraws all volunteers from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. Aug. 2: U.S. missionary physician, Kent Brantly, infected with Ebola in Liberia, flown to Atlanta for treatment. Aug. 5: Second U.S. missionary with Ebola, Nancy Writebol, flown from Liberia to Atlanta. Aug. 12: WHO says deaths top 1,000, approves use of unproven drugs or vaccines. Aug. 21: The two missionary workers are released from hospital on Aug. 19 and Aug. 21, free of Ebola. Aug. 29: Senegal reports first confirmed case. Sept. 3: Third U.S. missionary doctor with Ebola, Rick Sacra, flown from Liberia to Omaha, Nebraska, for treatment. Officials announce human trials for two vaccines, and U.S. contract to speed up testing experimental ZMapp treatment. Sept. 8: United States to send field hospital to Liberia. Sept. 9: Fourth Ebola patient, who asks not to be unidentified, flown to Atlanta for treatment from Sierra Leone. Sept. 11: Sacra improves after infusion of plasma from U.S. Ebola survivor Brantley and undisclosed experimental drug. Sept. 16: United States promises 3,000 military engineers, medical staff to West Africa to build clinics, train workers. Sept. 17: U.S. House of Representatives approves $88 million to help fight outbreak. Sept. 20: Liberian Thomas Eric Duncan flies to Dallas after helping Ebola victim in Liberia. Sept. 25: Duncan goes to Dallas hospital with fever, stomach pain. He is sent back to apartment where he is staying despite telling nurse he traveled from West Africa. Sept. 28: Duncan returns to Texas Presbyterian Hospital. Sept. 30: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirms Duncan has Ebola; first diagnosed in United States. Oct. 2: Duncan may have had contact with up to 100 people. NBC News says American freelance cameraman, Ashoka Mukpo, infected in Liberia and will be flown home for treatment. Oct. 6: Mukpo taken to Nebraska Medical Center. Oct. 8: Duncan dies in Dallas hospital. United States orders five airports to screen travelers from West Africa for fever. Oct. 9: Some U.S. lawmakers want travel ban on West African nations hit hardest by Ebola. Oct. 10: WHO says 4,033 dead out of 8,399 cases in seven countries. Oct. 11: New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport begins screening travelers from three West African countries. Oct. 12: Dallas nurse Nina Pham has Ebola; first to contract it in United States. She cared for Duncan. Oct. 15: Second Texas nurse, Amber Vinson, who also treated Duncan, has Ebola. Oct. 17: Obama appoints Ebola response coordinator. Oct. 20: United States issues stricter guidelines for health workers treating Ebola patients. Atlanta hospital that treated unidentified American patient says the man was free of Ebola and released Oct. 19. Oct. 21: As of Oct. 22 travelers to United States from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea must fly into one of five airports for enhanced screening. Oct. 22: United States will monitor for 21 days anyone entering from West African countries at center of epidemic. NBC cameraman Mukpo free of Ebola; leaves Nebraska hospital. Oct. 23: New York City doctor Craig Spencer, who treated patients in Guinea, tests positive for Ebola. Mali becomes sixth West African country hit by Ebola. Oct. 24: Dallas nurse Pham is Ebola-free; leaves hospital. New York and New Jersey order quarantine of medical workers returning from Ebola-hit West Africa countries. Nurse Kaci Hickox tests negative and is quarantined in New Jersey, under protest, for two days. She goes to Maine, is ordered isolated at home. She challenges order. Oct. 25: Illinois orders quarantine of all "high-risk" travelers returning from Ebola-hit West African countries and on Oct. 26 Florida orders 21 days of monitoring and quarantine for "high-risk" individuals. Oct. 27: U.S. Army begins isolating personnel returning from Ebola missions in West Africa. Oct. 28: Dallas nurse Vinson free of Ebola; leaves hospital. Oct. 29: Quarantine-like monitoring expanded to all U.S. military returning from relief missions. California enacts 21-day quarantine of travelers who had contact with Ebola patients. Nov. 3: Maine and nurse Hickox agree she can travel freely. Nov. 5: Obama will ask Congress for $6.2 billion in new funds to fight Ebola in West Africa and United States. Nov. 7: Dallas declared Ebola-free. Nov. 11: Dr. Spencer is free of Ebola, leaves hospital. Nov. 12: Nurses protest over protection measures provided. Nov. 15: Surgeon and U.S. resident Martin Salia has Ebola; is flown from home country Sierra Leone to Omaha, Nebraska. Nov. 16: U.S. adds travelers from Mali for screening. Nov. 17: Salia dies; second person to succumb to Ebola in United States. Nov. 21: WHO reports 5,459 deaths out of 15,351 cases. (Editing by Toni Reinhold and Grant McCool)