It is difficult to diagnose a patient who is in the early stages of EVD because the initial symptoms are nonspecific to Ebola and can be confused with other infectious diseases such as typhoid fever, malaria, and meningitis. The table below lists tests that are currently available to aid in the diagnosis of Ebola and the stages of the disease in which the tests are useful. The table information is provided courtesy of the CDC9. It is important to emphasize again that samples from patients are an extreme biohazard risk; laboratory testing on non-inactivated samples should be conducted under maximum biological containment conditions.
| Timeline of Infection | Diagnostic Tests Available |
| Within a few days after signs/symptoms begin (generally 3-10 days) | - Antigen-capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) testing
- IgM ELISA
- Real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)
- Virus isolation
|
| Later in the disease course or after recovery | - IgM and IgG antibodies (also used to monitor immune response)
|
| Retrospectively in deceased patients | - Immunohistochemistry (IHC) testing
- PCR
- Virus isolation
|
There are only a small number of patients that have been studied following infection with EVD. In these patients, additional laboratory findings can include, but are not limited to:
- Decreased white blood cell (WBC) count
- Elevated liver enzymes
- Decreased platelet count
- Increased prothrombin time (PT)
- Increased activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT)
