'Person of the Year'

Healthcare workers treating the Ebola epidemic have been named as Time magazine's collective "Person of the Year 2014."

"The rest of the world can sleep at night because a group of men and women are willing to stand and fight," wrote Time editor Nancy Gibbs, announcing the annual title from the US news magazine.

"For tireless acts of courage and mercy, for buying the world time to boost its defenses, for risking, for persisting, for sacrificing and saving, the Ebola fighters are Time's 2014 Person of the Year," she wrote.

Brave men and women

The White House welcomed the accolade as a tribute to the "heroism and selflessness" of countless 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," said spokesman Josh Earnest.

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

Worst outbreak on record

The hemorrhagic virus epidemic which was now killed more than 6,300 people has become the worst Ebola outbreak in history. Nearly all the cases have been in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, with just a few in Nigeria, Mali, Spain, Germany and the US. More than three hundred healthcare workers have died after contracting the disease.

Nina Pham, a nurse who contracted Ebola while caring for the first patient diagnosed on US soil, tweeted her delight at being part of the magazine's accolade.

Runners-up for the award included protesters who took to the streets in of Ferguson, Missouri after unarmed black teenager Michael Brown was killed by a white police officer.

Also shortlisted were Russian President Vladimir Putin, Massoud Barzani, president of Iraq's Kurdistan region, and China's richest man Jack Ma, founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba.

ksb/jm (Reuters, AP)