TY - JOUR
T1 - Analysis of patient data from laboratories during the Ebola virus disease outbreak in Liberia, April 2014 to March 2015
AU - Furuse, Yuki
AU - Fallah, Mosoka
AU - Oshitani, Hitoshi
AU - Kituyi, Ling
AU - Mahmoud, Nuha
AU - Musa, Emmanuel
AU - Gasasira, Alex
AU - Nyenswah, Tolbert
AU - Dahn, Bernice
AU - Bawo, Luke
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported in part by Creative Interdisciplinary Research Program funding from Tohoku University http://www.fris.tohoku.ac.jp/fris/english/index.html (YF). The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. We thank all staff working at national and international organizations who were fighting against the outbreak, including individuals at the EVD diagnostic laboratories, Government of Liberia, World Health Organization, United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Japan International Cooperation Agency, and numerous other partners. We also express our sincerest condolences to those who died during the outbreak.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Furuse et al.
PY - 2017/7/21
Y1 - 2017/7/21
N2 - An outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in Liberia began in March 2014 and ended in January 2016. Epidemiological information on the EVD cases was collected and managed nationally; however, collection and management of the data were challenging at the time because surveillance and reporting systems malfunctioned during the outbreak. EVD diagnostic laboratories, however, were able to register basic demographic and clinical information of patients more systematically. Here we present data on 16,370 laboratory samples that were tested between April 4, 2014 and March 29, 2015. A total of 10,536 traceable individuals were identified, of whom 3,897 were confirmed cases (positive for Ebola virus RNA). There were significant differences in sex, age, and place of residence between confirmed and suspected cases that tested negative for Ebola virus RNA. Age (young children and the elderly) and place of residence (rural areas) were the risk factors for death due to the disease. The case fatality rate of confirmed cases decreased from 80% to 63% during the study period. These findings may help support future investigations and lead to a fuller understanding of the outbreak in Liberia.
AB - An outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in Liberia began in March 2014 and ended in January 2016. Epidemiological information on the EVD cases was collected and managed nationally; however, collection and management of the data were challenging at the time because surveillance and reporting systems malfunctioned during the outbreak. EVD diagnostic laboratories, however, were able to register basic demographic and clinical information of patients more systematically. Here we present data on 16,370 laboratory samples that were tested between April 4, 2014 and March 29, 2015. A total of 10,536 traceable individuals were identified, of whom 3,897 were confirmed cases (positive for Ebola virus RNA). There were significant differences in sex, age, and place of residence between confirmed and suspected cases that tested negative for Ebola virus RNA. Age (young children and the elderly) and place of residence (rural areas) were the risk factors for death due to the disease. The case fatality rate of confirmed cases decreased from 80% to 63% during the study period. These findings may help support future investigations and lead to a fuller understanding of the outbreak in Liberia.
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U2 - 10.1371/journal.pntd.0005804
DO - 10.1371/journal.pntd.0005804
M3 - Article
C2 - 28732038
AN - SCOPUS:85026752172
VL - 11
JO - PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases
JF - PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases
SN - 1935-2727
IS - 7
M1 - e0005804
ER -
