Case Fatality Proportion of Deaths for Infection with Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever, Uganda

Case Fatality Proportion of Deaths for Infection with Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever, Uganda

Adam MacNeil, Eileen C. Farnon, Joseph Wamala, Sam Okware, Deborah L. Cannon, Zachary Reed, Jonathan S. Towner, Jordan W. Tappero, Julius Lutwama, Robert Downing, Stuart T. Nichol, Thomas G. Ksiazek, and Pierre E. Rollin

Author affiliations: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA (A. MacNeil, E.C. Farnon, D.L. Cannon, Z. Reed, J.S. Towner, S.T. Nichol, T.G. Ksiazek, P.E. Rollin); Ministry of Health, Republic of Uganda, Kampala, Uganda (J. Wamala, S. Okware); Global AIDS Program, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Entebbe, Uganda (J.W. Tappero, R. Downing); Uganda Virus Research Institute, Entebbe (J. Lutwama); and University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, USA (T.G. Ksiazek)
The first known Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF) outbreak caused by Bundibugyo ebolavirus occurred in Bundibugyo District, Uganda, in 2007. Fifty-six cases of EHF were laboratory confirmed. Although signs and symptoms were largely nonspecific and similar to those of EHF outbreaks caused by Zaire and Sudan ebolaviruses, case fatality proportion of deaths among those infected was lower (≈40%).

Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF) is a severe disease caused by several species of Ebolavirus (EBOV), in the family Filoviridae. Before 2007, four species of EBOV had been identified; 2 of these, Zaire ebolavirus and Sudan ebolavirus, have caused large human outbreaks in Africa, with case fatality proportion of deaths ≈80%–90% and 50%, respectively (1–5). Large outbreaks are associated with person-to-person transmission after the virus is introduced into humans from a zoonotic reservoir. Data suggest this reservoir may be fruit bats (6,7). During outbreaks of EHF, the virus is commonly transmitted through direct contact with infected persons or their bodily fluids (8–11). The onset of EHF is associated with nonspecific

full-text, pdf, 7 pages:
http://www.cdc.gov/eid/content/16/12/pdfs/10-0627.pdf