Clinical illness and outcomes in patients with Ebola in Sierra Leone.

BACKGROUND: Limited clinical and laboratory data are available on patients with Ebola virus disease (EVD). The Kenema Government Hospital in Sierra Leone, which had an existing infrastructure for research regarding viral hemorrhagic fever, has received and cared for patients with EVD since the beginning of the outbreak in Sierra Leone in May 2014. METHODS: We reviewed available epidemiologic, clinical, and laboratory records of patients in whom EVD was diagnosed between May 25 and June 18, 2014. We used quantitative reverse-transcriptase-polymerase-chain-reaction assays to assess the load of Ebola virus (EBOV, Zaire species) in a subgroup of patients. RESULTS: Of 106 patients in whom EVD was diagnosed, 87 had a known outcome, and 44 had detailed clinical information available. The incubation period was estimated to be 6 to 12 days, and the case fatality rate was 74%. Common findings at presentation included fever (in 89% of the patients), headache (in 80%), weakness (in 66%), dizziness (in 60%), diarrhea (in 51%), abdominal pain (in 40%), and vomiting (in 34%). Clinical and laboratory factors at presentation that were associated with a fatal outcome included fever, weakness, dizziness, diarrhea, and elevated levels of blood urea nitrogen, aspartate aminotransferase, and creatinine. Exploratory analyses indicated that patients under the age of 21 years had a lower case fatality rate than those over the age of 45 years (57% vs. 94%, P=0.03), and patients presenting with fewer than 100,000 EBOV copies per milliliter had a lower case fatality rate than those with 10 million EBOV copies per milliliter or more (33% vs. 94%, P=0.003). Bleeding occurred in only 1 patient. CONCLUSIONS: The incubation period and case fatality rate among patients with EVD in Sierra Leone are similar to those observed elsewhere in the 2014 outbreak and in previous outbreaks. Although bleeding was an infrequent finding, diarrhea and other gastrointestinal manifestations were common. (Funded by the National Institutes of Health and others.).

Medical reconciliation in patients discharged from the emergency department.

BACKGROUND: Medication errors are considered to be a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. For each patient, emergency departments (EDs) are expected to compile a list of medications, reconcile them, and pass them along to the next provider. The electronic medical record provides a method to automatically capture and propagate what may be incorrect information. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to compare the medication information that patients ultimately discharged from the ED provide to the ED staff vs. the medication information the patients provide at follow-up, and to classify and quantify the types of discrepancies between the two. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective descriptive study of a convenience sample of 36 patients who were discharged from the ED and who reported taking five or more medications. Discrepancies were identified by comparing information collected at the time of the index ED visit with that gleaned from follow-up contact within 7 days of discharge. RESULTS: Of the 36 charts analyzed, 286 medications were provided by patients at the time of their ED visit. Subsequent determination of actual medication use on follow-up found 120 discrepancies, for a discrepancy rate of 42.0% (95% confidence interval [CI] 36.4-47.8%). One or more discrepancies were found on 86.1% of charts (95% CI 74.8-97.4%). CONCLUSIONS: Frequent discrepancies are found in the medication information that patients provide in the ED. Requiring the ED to reconcile medication information and to pass it on to the next provider can be a source of treatment errors in the outpatient setting.

Genomic surveillance elucidates Ebola virus origin and transmission during the 2014 outbreak.

In its largest outbreak, Ebola virus disease is spreading through Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria. We sequenced 99 Ebola virus genomes from 78 patients in Sierra Leone to ~2000× coverage. We observed a rapid accumulation of interhost and intrahost genetic variation, allowing us to characterize patterns of viral transmission over the initial weeks of the epidemic. This West African variant likely diverged from central African lineages around 2004, crossed from Guinea to Sierra Leone in May 2014, and has exhibited sustained human-to-human transmission subsequently, with no evidence of additional zoonotic sources. Because many of the mutations alter protein sequences and other biologically meaningful targets, they should be monitored for impact on diagnostics, vaccines, and therapies critical to outbreak response.