The outbreak began in early December in a village called Meliandou, southeastern Guinea, not far from the borders with both Liberia and Sierra Leone. The first known case involved a two-year-old child who died, after fever and vomiting and passing black stool, on 6 December. The child's mother died a week later, then a sister and a grandmother, all with symptoms that included fever, vomiting, and diarrhoea. Then, by way of care-giving visits or attendance at funerals, the outbreak spread to other villages.