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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2015 Apr 16.
Published in final edited form as: N Engl J Med. 2014 Sep 22;371(16):1481–1495. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1411100

Table 2. Estimates of Epidemiologic Variables for Confirmed and Probable Ebola Cases, According to Country, as of September 14, 2014*.

Variable All Countries Guinea Liberia Nigeria Sierra Leone
no. of days no. of patients with data no. of days no. of patients with data no. of days no. of patients with data no. of days no. of patients with data no. of days no. of patients with data
Incubation period
 Single-day exposures
  Observed 9.4±7.4 500 10.7±8.7 35 9.5±6.6 259 NC <10 9.0±8.1 201
  Fitted 9.1±7.3 500 9.9±9.8 35 9.4±6.7 259 NC <10 8.5±7.6 201
 Multi-day exposures
  Observed 11.4±NA 155 10.9±NA 20 11.7±NA 79 NC <10 10.8±NA 48
  Fitted 9.7±5.5 155 8.3±4.5 20 9.9±5.7 79 NC <10 9.9±5.6 48
Serial interval§
 Observed 15.3±9.1 92 19.0±11.0 40 13.1±6.6 26 NC <10 11.6±5.6 25
 Fitted 15.3±9.3 92 19.0±11.2 40 13.1±7.8 26 NC <10 11.6±6.3 25
R0
Mean (95% CI) 1.71 (1.44–2.01) 1.83 (1.72–1.94) 1.2 (0.67–1.96) 2.02(1.79–2.26)
Doubling time — days (95% CI) 17.53 (13.18–26.64) 15.78 (14.4–17.37) 59.75 (13.27–∞) 12.84 (10.92–15.66)
R **
Mean (95% CI) 1.81 (1.60–2.03) 1.51 (1.41–1.60) 1.38(1.27–1.51)
Doubling time — days (95% CI) 15.7(12.9–20.3) 23.6 (20.2–28.2) NC 30.2(23.6–42.3)
Interval from symptom onset
 To hospitalization 5.0±4.7 1135 5.3±4.3 484 4.9±5.1 245 4.1±1.4 11 4.6±5.1 395
 To hospital discharge 16.4±6.5 267 16.3±6.1 152 15.4±8.2 41 NC <10 17.2±6.2 70
 To death 7.5±6.8 594 6.4±5.3 248 7.9±8.0 212 NC <10 8.6±6.9 128
 To WHO notification 6.1±8.5 2185 7.5±10.4 743 6.0±8.7 797 3.9±2.3 11 4.5±5.0 634
Interval from WHO notification
 To hospital discharge 11.8±7.2 312 11.1±5.8 164 11±8.0 41 NC <10 12.7±8.4 102
 To death −3.0±13.8 584 −4.4±14.4 300 −1.8±13.6 221 NC <10 −1.6±9.2 58
Interval from hospitalization
 To hospital discharge 11.8±6.1 290 11±5.4 159 12.8±8.1 40 NC <10 12.4±5.8 86
 To death 4.2±6.4 121 2.5±3.4 36 4.5±6.0 63 NC <10 4.4±6.0 17
Duration of hospital stay — days†† 6.42 4.99 6.72 NC 6.88
rate (95% CI) no. of patients with data rate (95% CI) no. of patients with data rate (95% CI) no. of patients with data rate (95% CI) no. of patients with data rate (95% CI) no. of patients with data
Case fatality rate
 All cases, based on current 37.7 (36.1–39.2) 3747 57.5 (53.7–61.1) 677 34.7 (32.4–37.1) 1616 40.0 (19.8–64.3) 15 31.6 (29.3–34.1) 1439
status
 All cases, based on definitive 70.8 (68.6–72.8) 1737 70.7 (66.7–74.3) 542 72.3 (68.9–75.4) 739 45.5 (21.3–72.0) 11 69.0 (64.5–73.1) 445
outcome
  Before August 18 71.3 (68.7–73.7) 1244 68.7 (64.3–72.8) 454 79.8 (75.7–83.4) 416 50.0 (23.7–76.3) 10 65.4 (60.4–70.1) 364
  August 18–September 14 59.9 (54.7–64.9) 354 80.7 (71.2–87.6) 88 41.1 (34.3–48.2) 190 NC <10 84.0 (74.1–90.6) 75
 All hospitalized cases, based on definitive outcome 64.3 (61.5–67.0) 1153 64.7 (60.1–68.9) 450 67.0 (62.0–71.7) 361 40.0 (16.8–68.7) 10 61.4 (56.1–66.5) 332
 According to sex
  Male 72.2 (69.1–75.1) 874 68.5 (62.6–73.9) 254 74.9 (70.4–79.0) 395 NC <10 71.9 (65.7–77.5) 221
  Female 69.9 (66.7–73.0) 818 72.7 (67.3–77.6) 286 71.6 (66.4–76.3) 317 NC <10 64.4 (57.7–70.6) 208
 According to age group
  <15 yr 73.4 (67.2–78.8) 218 78.1 (67.3–86.0) 73 70.7 (60.1–79.5) 82 NC <10 71.4 (59.3–81.1) 63
  15–44 yr 66.1 (63.1–69.0) 1012 64.9 (59.5–69.9) 319 70.6 (66.1–74.8) 422 NC <10 61.4 (55.4–67.0) 264
  ≥45 yr 80.4 (76.2–84.0) 398 78.6 (71.1–84.6) 140 81.1 (74.4–86.4) 164 NC <10 82.2 (73.1–88.8) 90
 According to occupation
  Health care worker 69.4 (62.1–75.8) 170 56.1 (41.0–70.1) 41 80.0 (68.7–87.9) 65 NC <10 68.4 (55.5–79.0) 57
  Non–health care worker 70.9 (68.6–73.1) 1567 71.9 (67.8–75.6) 501 71.5 (68.0–74.8) 674 NC <10 69.1 (64.3–73.5) 388
*

Plus–minus values are means ±SD. NA denotes not available, NC not calculated, and WHO World Health Organization.

Contacts on day 0 (i.e., on the day of symptom onset) were excluded.

Contacts on day 0 (i.e., on the day of symptom onset) were excluded. Gamma probability distributions were fitted to confirmed and probable cases.

§

The serial interval is the interval between disease onset in an index case patient and disease onset in a person infected by that index case patient. In this category, the number of patients with data is the number of epidemiologically linked pairs in which the later case patient reported only one direct contact.

Gamma probability distributions were fitted to confirmed and probable cases.

The basic reproduction number (Ro) is the average number of secondary cases that arise when one primary case is introduced into an uninfected population. We estimated the Ro and associated mean doubling time, using a serial interval of 15.3 days, for the period up to March 30, 2014, for Guinea; up to August 24, 2014, for Liberia and Nigeria; and up to July 6, 2014, for Sierra Leone. This number was estimated for individual countries only and not for the combined data.

**

We estimated R, the mean value of Rt, (the estimated net reproduction number), and associated mean doubling time, using a serial interval of 15.3 days, for the period of July 21 to August 31, 2014. This number was estimated for individual countries only and not for the combined data.

††

The mean duration of hospital stay was calculated as the weighted average of the observed means from the hospitalization-to-discharge and hospitalization-to-death distributions. This variable was not calculated in Nigeria because there were fewer than 10 case patients with data.