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. 2016 May 10;7(19):27910-5.
doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.8558.

The etiology of Ebola virus disease-like illnesses in Ebola virusnegative patients from Sierra Leone

Wen-Gang Li  1   2 , Wei-Wei Chen  1   2 , Lei Li  1   2 , Dong Ji  1   2 , Ying-Jie Ji  1   2 , Chen Li  1   2 , Xu-Dong Gao  1   2 , Li-Fu Wang  1   2 , Min Zhao  1   2 , Xue-Zhang Duan  1   2 , Hui-Juan Duan  1   2
Affiliations

The etiology of Ebola virus disease-like illnesses in Ebola virusnegative patients from Sierra Leone

Wen-Gang Li et al. Oncotarget. .

Abstract

During the 2014 Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak, less than half of EVD-suspected cases were laboratory tested as Ebola virus (EBOV)-negative, but disease identity remained unknown. In this study we investigated the etiology of EVD-like illnesses in EBOV-negative cases. From November 13, 2014 to March 16, 2015, EVD-suspected patients were admitted to Jui Government Hospital and assessed for EBOV infection by real-time PCR. Of 278 EBOV negative patients, 223 (80.21%), 142 (51.08%), 123 (44.24%), 114 (41.01%), 59 (21.22%), 35 (12.59%), and 12 (4.32%) reported fever, headache, joint pain, fatigue, nausea/vomiting, diarrhea, hemorrhage, respectively. Furthermore, 121 (43.52%), 44 (15.83%), 36 (12.95%), 33 (11.87%), 23 (8.27%), 10 (3.60%) patients were diagnosed as infection with malaria, HIV, Lassa fever, tuberculosis, yellow fever, and pneumonia, respectively. No significant differences in clinical features and symptoms were found between non-EVD and EVD patients. To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the first to explore the etiology of EVD-like illnesses in uninfected patients in Sierra Leone, highlighting the importance of accurate diagnosis to EVD confirmation.

Keywords: EVD-suspected cases; Ebola virus disease (EVD); HIV; Lassa fever; malaria.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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