Ebola natural history
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Ebola Microchapters |
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Diagnosis |
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Treatment |
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Postmortem Care |
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Ebola natural history On the Web |
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American Roentgen Ray Society Images of Ebola natural history |
Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1] Michael Maddaleni, B.S.; Guillermo Rodriguez Nava, M.D. [2]
Overview
In the absence of supportive care, the Ebola virus rapidly progresses to death in up to 90% of cases. Ebola virus disease can be complicated by the development of multiorgan failure and shock. The prognosis of Ebola virus disease is poor, and depends of the supportive care given and the Ebola virus strain. The Zaire Ebola virus has mortality rate as high as 90%.[1]
Natural History
- Ebola virus disease has an incubation period from 2 to 21 days.
- The symptoms of ebola virus disease usually develop early after the incubation period in fatal cases, and the patients die in between the first two weeks.
- Initial symptoms include high fever, chills, headache, malaise and myalgia.
- The ebola virus disease can course with or without hemorrhage.
- Hemorrhage signs are usually associated with abdominal pain and diarrhea.
- Anorexia, nausea, sore throat and postration are symptoms usually associated with non-hemorrhagic ebola virus disease.
- On occasions, on the fifth day of the ebola virus disease, a rash on the trunk precedes the appearance of the hemorrhagic sings.
- Patients who develop more severe hemorrhagic manifestations such as Hematemesis, melena, epistaxis, ear bleeding and hematuria have a bad prognosis and die within a week.[2]
- Tachypnea has been shown to be the most important indicator of fatal outcome as it appears a few hours before death. Other indicators of fatal outcome are hypotension, tachycardia and anuria.
- Without treatment, the patient will develop symptoms of shock, which will eventually lead to death.[3]
- Patients who survive the first 11 days, have high possibilities of recovering, as it is enough time for the humoral immune response to act.
- The convalescence period of survivors is characterized by asthenia and arthralgia.[2]
Complications
Survivors may have unusual problems, such as hair loss and sensory changes. There are also some late complications that may occur due to ebola. They are:
- Hearing loss
- Unilateral orchitis
- Headache
- Fatigue
- Myalgias
- Tinnitis
- Amenorrhea
- Bulimia
- Suppurative parotitis
Prognosis
The prognosis for a patient infected with the ebola virus is typically not good. The mortality rate from ebola can be 50% for patients infected with the Sudan ebolavirus or as high as 90% for the patients infected with the Zaire ebolavirus. Many times patients will die from shock rather than blood loss. It should be noted that patients who are able to survive with ebola for two weeks are usually able to slowly recover.
References
- ↑ "Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever Information Packet" (PDF).
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Sureau PH (1989). "Firsthand clinical observations of hemorrhagic manifestations in Ebola hemorrhagic fever in Zaire". Rev Infect Dis. 11 Suppl 4: S790–3. PMID 2749110.
- ↑ Feldmann H, Geisbert TW (2011). "Ebola haemorrhagic fever". Lancet. 377 (9768): 849–62. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(10)60667-8. PMC 3406178. PMID 21084112.