Skip to main content

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
Cancel
×
Home
Article
    • Aa
    • Aa

Assessment of the severity of Ebola virus disease in Sierra Leone in 2014–2015

  • J. Y. WONG (a1), W. ZHANG (a2) (a3), D. KARGBO (a4), U. HAQUE (a5) (a6), W. HU (a7), P. WU (a1), A. KAMARA (a4), Y. CHEN (a2) (a3), B. KARGBO (a4), G. E. GLASS (a5) (a6), R. YANG (a3) (a8), B. J. COWLING (a1) and C. LIU (a2) (a3)...
Abstract
SUMMARY

The current Ebola virus disease (EVD) epidemic in West Africa is unprecedented in scale, and Sierra Leone is the most severely affected country. The case fatality risk (CFR) and hospitalization fatality risk (HFR) were used to characterize the severity of infections in confirmed and probable EVD cases in Sierra Leone. Proportional hazards regression models were used to investigate factors associated with the risk of death in EVD cases. In total, there were 17 318 EVD cases reported in Sierra Leone from 23 May 2014 to 31 January 2015. Of the probable and confirmed EVD cases with a reported final outcome, a total of 2536 deaths and 886 recoveries were reported. CFR and HFR estimates were 74·2% [95% credibility interval (CrI) 72·6–75·5] and 68·9% (95% CrI 66·2–71·6), respectively. Risks of death were higher in the youngest (0–4 years) and oldest (⩾60 years) age groups, and in the calendar month of October 2014. Sex and occupational status did not significantly affect the mortality of EVD. The CFR and HFR estimates of EVD were very high in Sierra Leone.

Copyright
COPYRIGHT: © Cambridge University Press 2015 
Corresponding author
*Author for correspondence: Professor B. J. Cowling, WHO Collaborating Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Control, School of Public Health, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, 21 Sassoon Road, Pokfulam, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China. (Email: bcowling@hku.hk)
Linked references
Hide All

This list contains references from the content that can be linked to their source. For a full set of references and notes please see the PDF or HTML where available.

5. World Health Organization Ebola Response Team. Ebola virus disease in West Africa – the first 9 months of the epidemic and forward projections. New England Journal of Medicine 2014; 371: 1481–1495.
7. H Feldmann , TW Geisbert . Ebola haemorrhagic fever. Lancet 2011; 377: 849–62.
8. SK Gire , Genomic surveillance elucidates Ebola virus origin and transmission during the 2014 outbreak. Science 2014; 345: 1369–1372.
10. BJ Cowling , H Yu . Ebola: worldwide dissemination risk and response priorities. Lancet 2015; 385: 7–9.
12. R Parkes-Ratanshi , Ebola outbreak response; experience and development of screening tools for viral haemorrhagic fever (VHF) in a HIV center of excellence near to VHF epicentres. PLoS ONE 2014; 9: e100333.
17. H Yu , Human infection with avian influenza A H7N9 virus: an assessment of clinical severity. Lancet 2013; 382: 138–145.
18. S Greenland . Bayesian perspectives for epidemiological research: I. Foundations and basic methods. International Journal of Epidemiology 2006; 35: 765–775.
19. S Brooks , Handbook of Markov Chain Monte Carlo. Boca Raton: Chapman & Hall/CRC, 2011.
20. JS Schieffelin , Clinical illness and outcomes in patients with Ebola in Sierra Leone. New England Journal of Medicine 2014; 371: 2092–2100.
22. World Health Organization Ebola Response Team. West African Ebola epidemic after one year – slowing but not yet under control. New England Journal of Medicine 2015; 372: 584–587.
23. World Health Organization Ebola Response Team. Ebola virus disease among children in West Africa. New England Journal of Medicine 2015; 372: 1274–1277.
25. RF Sadek , Ebola hemorrhagic fever, Democratic Republic of the Congo, 1995: determinants of survival. Journal of Infectious Diseases 1999; 179 (Suppl. 1): S24–27.
28. S Briand , The international Ebola emergency. New England Journal of Medicine 2014; 371: 1180–1183.
29. EI Bah , Clinical presentation of patients with Ebola virus disease in Conakry, Guinea. New England Journal of Medicine 2015; 372: 40–47.
Recommend this journal

Email your librarian or administrator to recommend adding this journal to your organisation's collection.

Epidemiology & Infection
  • ISSN: 0950-2688
  • EISSN: 1469-4409
  • URL: /core/journals/epidemiology-and-infection
Please enter your name
Please enter a valid email address
Who would you like to send this to? *

CAPTCHA *

Skip to the audio challenge
×

Keywords:

Type Description Title
WORD
Supplementary Materials

Wong supplementary material
Tables S1-S3 and Figure S1

 Word (43 KB)
43 KB

Metrics

Altmetric attention score

Full text views

Total number of HTML views: 11
Total number of PDF views: 44 *
Loading metrics...

Abstract views

Total abstract views: 267 *
Loading metrics...

* Views captured on Cambridge Core between September 2016 - 25th June 2017. This data will be updated every 24 hours.

Cancel
Confirm
×