In his personal blog, Dawson Jope described Peace Corps' withdrawal from Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia as "testament to the deadly potential and spread of the disease," noting the organization's first priority is volunteers' safety.

"I'm sure most of you have many, many questions. I have some answers, but not the time at the moment to present them all because me and my fifty-four other colleagues are in the hectic process of preparing for our evacuation of country," he wrote in a Thursday entry. "That statement alone does not come close to conveying the maelstrom of stresses that have been placed upon all of us so quickly thrust into this situation. Just know that we are all safe and healthy, and will soon be back in country."

A Peace Corps spokeswoman said the organization is working to bring the volunteers home as quickly as possible and following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines that say people without a known exposure don't need to be screened but should monitor their health. Two workers who have been exposed to the virus still were being monitored.

"The two Peace Corps volunteers who have had contact with an individual who later died of the virus are not symptomatic and are currently isolated and under observation," said spokeswoman Shira Kramer. "When they receive medical clearance for return to the U.S., we will work with them to travel safely back."

The departing volunteers don't know when they'll be permitted to return to West Africa, a disappointment for some who had long anticipated their service.

"I don't want to get Ebola, but I am willing to accept the possibility of contracting Ebola to do what I think is right," Dane Sosniecki, a 25-year-old volunteer in Liberia, wrote on this blog. "An old mentor of mine once said, 'Risk is part of the game if you want to sit in that chair.' You all know me, I'm all about that chair."

In Moberly, Missouri, Sosniecki's mother, Liz, said she shared her son's disappointment. He's been in Kakata, Liberia, for only six weeks. During that time he has been training to be a high school math teacher, his assignment during an anticipated two-year stint.

Liz Sosniecki says she's convinced that while Ebola is "a scary disease, it isn't as contagious as people are fearing." Contracting malaria is a higher risk, her son has told her, and she's found herself repeatedly comforting others in the city of 14,000 in north-central Missouri who have come into her gift shop and said they are worried about her son.

But while describing the telephone call in which Dane told her he was coming home, she apologized as she began to cry.

"I'm a little emotional," she said. "It's a relief."