Ebola physical examination

Physical course of ebola
Ebola progression in the human body is very rapid.


 * The African-derived ebola species that infects human typically has an incubation period of 3-8 days. It is slightly longer than the 3-8 days in secondary cases. It should be noted that there have also been incubation periods of 19 to 21 days on record.


 * Clinical symptoms will appear suddenly. These occur early in the disease. The majority of patients will experience:
 * Severe headache
 * Arthralgias
 * Fever with chills or fever without chills
 * Asthenia
 * Some patients will also experience anorexia


 * Some GI symptoms may include the following:
 * Nausea
 * Vomiting
 * Diarrhea
 * Abdominal pain
 * Bleeding in the GI tract may also be a common sign


 * Patients who are terminally ill often present with the following:
 * Anuric
 * Tachypneic
 * Obtunded
 * In shock
 * Normothermic


 * Some significant correlations found are:
 * In fatal cases of ebola, hiccups have been noted
 * Many fatal cases presented with tachypnea and no survivors had tachypnea

Diagnosis
The following outlines when ebola should considered as a possible diagnosis.