Ebola fighters are Time magazine's 2014 people of the year

Thousands of medical workers have been fighting to contain the deadliest Ebola outbreak in history, which has infected more than 17,000 people and killed more than 6,000 in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

"The reporting was both heart wrenching and horrifying," Time Africa bureau chief Aryn Baker said. "But every time I wrote about rising death tolls, I wrote about extraordinary men and women who risked everything -from disease to distrust and even death - to stop Ebola from taking more lives."

The magazine covers feature five individual Ebola fighters: Monrovia hospital director Jerry Brown, ambulance driver Foday Gallah and Doctors Without Borders volunteers Salome Karwah, Ella Watson and Dr Kent Brantly, who was the first American to contract the virus.

The European Union and the White House praised Time's decision.

"2014 has been marked by the Ebola epidemic in West Africa and the ripple of fear it sent around the world. But even more remarkable has been the response of doctors, nurses, epidemiologists, paramedics, soldiers and volunteers who flew in from around the world to save lives, putting their own lives at risk every day they go to work," EU Ebola coordinator Christos Stylianides said.

Stylianides highlighted the need for additional health care workers to keep fighting the epidemic.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest pointed out the significant progress that USAID, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and the US military have made recruiting and training volunteers, yet called for more health care workers.

"The administration, including the president, could not be prouder of the brave men and women who've committed themselves to this effort in a foreign land," Earnest said.

"But we must not forget that in order to bring this epidemic under control on the front lines, and the only way to prevent additional cases here in the United States, we need more of these medical professionals."

Time magazine annually profiles a person or group that has "for better or for worse done the most to influence the events of the year."

In 2013 Pope Francis was featured as person of the year, and in 2012 it was US President Barack Obama.