TABLE 2.
Clinical signs and malaria rapid diagnostic test results in Ebola virus disease patients and patients with suspected Ebola virus disease.
| Clinical signs and MRDT test results | Confirmed (N = 13) |
Suspected (N = 276) |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| n | % | n | % | |
| MRDT | 13 | - | 276 | - |
| MRDT + | 5 | 38 | 183 | 66 |
| MRDT − | 8 | 62 | 93 | 34 |
| Respiratory system | ||||
| Cough | 1 | 8 | 90 | 33 |
| Breathing difficulties | 3 | 23 | 40 | 14 |
| Sore throat | 3 | 23 | 13 | 5 |
| Circulation and haemostasis | ||||
| Signs of bleeding† | 5† | 38 | 7 | 3 |
| Gastro-intestinal manifestations | ||||
| Nausea and vomiting | 6 | 46 | 119 | 43 |
| Diarrheal | 10 | 77 | 42 | 15 |
| Abdominal pain | 10 | 77 | 143 | 52 |
| Jaundice | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| Neurological manifestations | ||||
| Altered level of consciousness | 1 | 8 | 4 | 1 |
| Confusion or disorientation | 3 | 23 | 10 | 4 |
| Swallowing difficulties | 3 | 23 | 15 | 5 |
| Headaches | 10 | 77 | 177 | 64 |
| General fatigue | 8 | 62 | 185 | 67 |
| Musculoskeletal system | ||||
| Thoracic pain | 2 | 15 | 45 | 16 |
| Muscle pain | 5 | 38 | 84 | 30 |
| Joint pain | 6 | 46 | 76 | 28 |
| Skin and eyes | ||||
| Rash or other skin manifestations | 0 | 0 | 14 | 5 |
| Conjunctivitis | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| Others | ||||
| Fever | 10 | 77 | 210 | 76 |
| Loss of appetite or anorexia | 9 | 69 | 160 | 58 |
| Hiccups | 2 | 15 | 5 | 1 |
MRDT, malaria rapid diagnostic test.
, Signs of bleeding, for example, epistaxis, bleeding from oral mucosa, gastro-intestinal bleeding, bleeding from injection sites.
Note: Epidemiological context: confirmed EVD patients: nine EVD patients had close contact with confirmed Ebola cases; four EVD patients had close contact with ‘probable cases’. Patients with suspected EVD: 15 patients had contact with EVD patients. These data may have limited accuracy as this information depends on verbal communication with patients or relatives during a stressful admission process to an ETC. Transfer of patients with suspected but subsequently nonconfirmed EVD: five of the 271 surviving patients with suspected EVD were transferred to other health facilities after Ebola virus infection was excluded. One of these five patients was transferred to a COVID-19 treatment centre. Only three of the 13 EVD patients (23%) had signs of severe haemorrhage potentially requiring transfusion and further blood products (EVD number: 1; 9; 11 [Online Appendix 1]). All three of these patients presented with multi-organ dysfunction and died within 48 h of ETC arrival. Viral load was only available in one of these three patients with severe haemorrhage (nucleoprotein cycle threshold [NP-CT]:22; EVD 9).