Volume 21, Number 11—November 2015
Synopsis
Ebola Virus Outbreak Investigation, Sierra Leone, September 28–November 11, 2014
Hui-Jun Lu12, Jun Qian12, David Kargbo1, Xiao-Guang Zhang2, Fan Yang2, Yi Hu2, Yang Sun2, Yu-Xi Cao2, Yong-Qiang Deng2, Hao-Xiang Su2, Foday Dafae, Yu Sun2, Cheng-Yu Wang2, Wei-Min Nie2, Chang-Qing Bai2, Zhi-Ping Xia, Kun Liu, Brima Kargbo, George F. Gao2, and Jia-Fu Jiang2
Table 1
Demographic and clinical characteristics for suspected Ebola virus disease patients, Sierra Leone, September 28–November 11, 2014*
| Characteristics | No. (%) patients with positive RT-PCR results |
No. (%) patients with negative RT-PCR results, n = 451 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All patients, n = 563 | Patients who died, n = 328 | Patients who recovered, n = 235 | ||
| Demographic characteristic | ||||
| Sex | ||||
| Female | 266 (47.2) | 156 (47.6) | 110 (46.8) | 219 (48.6) |
| Male | 297(52.8) | 172(52.4) | 125(53.2) | 232(51.4) |
| Age, y, group† | ||||
| 0–5 | 30 (5.3) | 18 (5.6) | 12 (5.1) | 53 (12.0) |
| 6–14 | 105 (18.7) | 68 (21.0) | 37 (15.8) | 59 (13.4) |
| 15–44 | 341 (61.1) | 179 (55.2) | 162 (69.2) | 261 (59.3) |
| >45 | 82 (14.7) | 59 (18.2) | 23 (9.8) | 67 (15.2) |
| Location of residence | ||||
| Western Area | ||||
| Rural areas | 198 (35.2) | 107 (32.6) | 91 (38.7) | 137 (30.4) |
| Urban areas | 140 (24.9) | 71 (21.6) | 69 (29.4) | 177 (39.2) |
| Northern Province | ||||
| Port Loko District | 191 (33.9) | 131 (39.9) | 60 (25.5) | 71 (15.7) |
| Kambia District | 21 (3.7) | 13 (4.0) | 8 (3.4) | 27 (6.0) |
| Bombali District | 10 (1.8) | 5 (1.5) | 5 (2.1) | 23 (5.1) |
| Koinadugu District | 2 (0.4) | 1 (0.3) | 1 (0.4) | 5 (1.1) |
| Tonkolili District | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 (1.2) |
| Southern Province | ||||
| Bo Town | 1 (0.2) | 0 | 1 (0.4) | 0 |
| Bonthe District |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 (0.1) |
| Signs and symptoms | ||||
| Fatigue | 464 (84.4) | 272 (82.9) | 192 (81.7) | 196 (43.5) |
| Anorexia | 467 (82.9) | 278 (84.8) | 189 (80.4) | 208 (46.1) |
| Fever | 426 (75.7) | 260 (79.3) | 166 (70.6) | 210 (46.6) |
| Vomiting or nausea | 354 (62.9) | 202 (61.6) | 152 (64.7) | 112 (24.8) |
| Headache | 354 (62.9) | 209 (63.7) | 145 (61.7) | 195 (43.2) |
| Diarrhea | 349 (62.0) | 207 (63.1) | 142 (60.4) | 103 (22.8) |
| Joint pain | 319 (56.7) | 186 (56.7) | 133 (56.6) | 174 (38.6) |
| Abdominal pain | 317 (56.3) | 184 (56.1) | 133 (56.6) | 130 (28.8) |
| Muscle pain | 305 (54.2) | 183 (55.8) | 122 (51.9) | 137 (30.4) |
| Chest pain | 226 (40.1) | 123 (37.5) | 103 (43.8) | 96 (21.3) |
| Cough | 212 (37.7) | 113 (34.5) | 99 (42.1) | 101 (22.4) |
| Difficulty breathing | 191 (33.9) | 110 (33.5) | 81 (35.4) | 88 (19.5) |
| Difficulty swallowing | 164 (29.1) | 95 (29.0) | 69 (29.4) | 56 (12.4) |
| Conjunctivitis | 161 (28.6) | 95 (29.0) | 66 (28.1) | 34 (7.5) |
| Confused | 151 (26.8) | 88 (26.8) | 63 (26.8) | 50 (11.1) |
| Sore throat | 117 (20.8) | 66 (20.1) | 51 (21.7) | 39 (8.6) |
| Jaundice | 102 (18.1) | 63 (19.2) | 39 (16.6) | 42 (9.3) |
| Hiccups | 95 (16.9) | 56 (17.1) | 39 (16.6) | 20 (4.4) |
| Pain behind eyes | 55 (9.8) | 34 (10.4) | 21 (8.9) | 13 (2.9) |
| Skin Rash | 45 (8.0) | 25 (7.6) | 20 (8.5) | 23 (5.1) |
| Coma | 27 (4.8) | 15 (4.6) | 12 (5.1) | 10 (2.2) |
| Hemorrhage |
6 (1.1) |
6 (1.8) |
0 |
7 (1.6) |
| Virus load, mean± SD‡ | 363,078 ±28 | 436,515 ±26 | 288,403 ±30 | NA |
*NA, not applicable; RT-PCR, reverse transcription PCR.
†Age was not known for 5 patients with confirmed disease and 11 patients with negative test results.
‡Virus loads represent RNA copies.
1These authors contributed equally to this article.
2These authors were members of the China Mobile Laboratory Testing Team in Sierra Leone.
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