Blood Chemistry Measurements and<scp>d</scp>‐Dimer Levels Associated with Fatal and Nonfatal Outcomes in Humans Infected with Sudan Ebola Virus

Abstract

Blood samples from patients infected with the Sudan species of Ebola virus (EBOV), obtained during an outbreak of disease in Uganda in 2000, were tested for a panel of analytes to evaluate their clinical condition and to compare values obtained for patients with fatal and nonfatal cases and for uninfected (hospitalized control) patients. Liver function tests showed higher levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) in blood samples from patients with fatal cases than in samples from patients with nonfatal cases, whereas alanine aminotransferase levels were comparable and only slightly increased in all patients, suggesting that increased blood AST levels are due to a greater degree of injury in tissues other than the liver. Significantly higher levels of amylase, urea nitrogen, and creatinine suggest that acute pancreatitis and renal dysfunction develop in fatal cases, whereas reduced albumin and calcium levels may be linked to these conditions or to liver damage. D- Dimer levels in blood specimens were drastically increased in patients with fatal and nonfatal infections but were 4 times higher in patients with fatal cases than in patients who survived (180,000 vs. 44,000 ng/mL), during the most acute period of the infection (6-8 days after onset). These results indicate that disseminated intravascular coagulation is an early and important component of EBOV disease. This study has identified levels of analytes with prognostic value, which can also be used to target therapeutic interventions, and expands on the findings of prior blood tests conducted on this group of patients.