Public Health Emergency of International Concern second PHEIC was issued in May 2014 with the resurgence of polio after its near-eradication, deemed "an extraordinary event." On Friday, August 8, 2014, the World Health Organization declared its third Public Health Emergency of International Concern in response to the outbreak of Ebola in Western Africa. On Monday, February 1, 2016, the World Health Organization declared its fourth PHEIC in response to clusters of microcephaly and Guillain–Barré syndrome in the Americas, which at the time were suspected to be associated with the ongoing outbreak of Zika virus. Later research and evidence bore out these concerns; in April, the WHO
Ebola virus epidemic in Guinea the area such as Lassa fever, another hemorrhagic fever similar to Ebola. Thus, it was not until March 2014 that the outbreak was recognized as Ebola. The Ministry of Health of Guinea notified the World Health Organization (WHO), and on 23 March the WHO announced an outbreak of Ebola virus disease in Guinea with a total of 49 cases as of that date. By late May, the outbreak had spread to Conakry, Guinea's capital, a city of about two million inhabitants. In March, Guinea's President Alpha Conde declared a national health emergency due to the outbreak. He stated efforts to