The Ebola death toll currently stands at 5,420, according to the World Health Organization. The WHO said yesterday that transmission of the virus is still particularly “intense and widespread” in Sierra Leone, where only 13 percent of patients have been successfully isolated.

—Cari Romm

November 17, 9:25 a.m.

Doctor Brought to U.S. Dies of Ebola

Dr. Michael Salia, a U.S. resident who contracted Ebola while working as a surgeon in his native Sierra Leone, died this morning at the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. The 44-year-old Salia was already acutely ill upon his arrival in the U.S. on Saturday with kidney and respiratory problems. He has become the second person to die of Ebola in the United States. The first, Thomas Eric Duncan, passed away in Dallas last month after contracting the illness in Liberia.

According to NBC News, Salia had a wife and two children living in the New Carrollton, Maryland. "Even though he knows the sickness is already out, he decided to still go and help his people because he wanted to show that he loves his people," his son, Maada, said.

Salia initially underwent an Ebola test that came back negative in Sierra Leone earlier in the month, but when his symptoms persisted, a second test showed the disease, the Washington Post reported. Doctors say early detection is critical to treating Ebola.

—Matt Schiavenza

November 17, 9:15 a.m.

U.S. Announces Enhanced Airport Screening for Mali Travelers

Travelers entering the U.S. from Mali will now be subject to enhanced Ebola screenings at airports as concerns grow about the latest outbreak in the West African nation.

The Department of Homeland Security cited a "number of confirmed cases" in Mali in recent days as well as the large number of individuals who have been exposed to Ebola as reasons for the change. The U.S. had previously implemented enhanced airport screenings for passengers from Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone. Dozens of people in Mali have now been quarantined after the death of a nurse who treated a Guinean man who died of Ebola last week.

There are no direct flights to the U.S. from Mali, and the change will likely affect only 15-20 people who regularly fly in through connecting airports, DHS said in a statement. They will be routed to one of five airports that conduct the enhanced screenings, and they will be subject to 21-day monitoring for symptoms. Most are U.S. citizens or residents who are flying home.

–Russell Berman

November 11, 12:30 p.m.

The Quiet End to the U.S. Ebola Panic

Dr. Craig Spencer, the health worker who brought Ebola from West Africa into the nation's biggest metropolis, is going home on Tuesday, healthy and virus-free. The news out of New York brings the grand total of Ebola cases currently in the U.S. back down to zero. For now, the borderline hysteria that began with the arrival, diagnosis, and subsequent death, of Thomas Eric Duncan in Dallas is resembling so many other crises of the moment, in with a bang and out with a whimper. Read more ...