TY - JOUR AU - Hsu, Christopher AU - Champaloux, Steven AU - Keïta, Sakoba AU - Martel, Lise AU - Bilivogui, Pepe AU - Knust, Barbara AU - McCollum, Andrea T1 - Sensitivity and Specificity of Suspected Case Definition Used during West Africa Ebola Epidemic T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2018 VL - 24 IS - 1 SP - 9 SN - 1080-6059 AB - Rapid early detection and control of Ebola virus disease (EVD) is contingent on accurate case definitions. Using an epidemic surveillance dataset from Guinea, we analyzed an EVD case definition developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and used in Guinea. We used the surveillance dataset (March–October 2014; n = 2,847 persons) to identify patients who satisfied or did not satisfy case definition criteria. Laboratory confirmation determined cases from noncases, and we calculated sensitivity, specificity and predictive values. The sensitivity of the defintion was 68.9%, and the specificity of the definition was 49.6%. The presence of epidemiologic risk factors (i.e., recent contact with a known or suspected EVD case-patient) had the highest sensitivity (74.7%), and unexplained deaths had the highest specificity (92.8%). Results for case definition analyses were statistically significant (p<0.05 by χ2 test). Multiple components of the EVD case definition used in Guinea contributed to improved overall sensitivity and specificity. KW - Ebola virus disease KW - Ebola viruses KW - viruses KW - sensitivity KW - specificity KW - case definition KW - epidemic KW - West Africa KW - Guinea KW - suspected case definition KW - zoonoses DO - 10.3201/eid2401.161678 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/24/1/16-1678_article ER - End of Reference