Ebola virus disease: epidemiology, clinical presentation, and diagnostic and therapeutic modalities

Ebola virus disease (EVD) is a severe multisystem disease. Prehospital personnel, hospitals, and clinicians must be prepared to provide care for patients with EVD, with special attention to rigorous infection control in order to limit the spread of infection. Children with EVD are an especially challenging population, as the initial symptoms are nonspecific and difficult to differentiate from several common infections. For children presenting with a syndrome consistent with EVD, it is extremely important that healthcare workers identify epidemiologic risk factors, such as recent travel to an affected country or exposure to a patient with suspected or known EVD. Given the high morbidity and mortality of this disease, clinical efforts should focus on early diagnosis, appropriate infection control, and supportive care.