Symptoms:

During the incubation period, which can last about 1 week, symptoms include:

• Arthritis
• Backache (low)
• Diarrhea
• Fatigue
• Headache
• Malaise
• Nausea
• Sore throat
• Vomiting

Late symptoms include:

• Bleeding from eyes, ears, and nose
• Bleeding from the mouth and rectum (gastrointestinal bleeding)
• Depression
• Eye inflammation (conjunctivitis)
• Genital swelling (labia and scrotum)
• Increased feeling of pain in skin
• Rash over the entire body that often contains blood (hemorrhagic)
• Roof of mouth looks red
• Seizures, coma, delirium

As many as 90% of patients die from the disease. Patients usually die from shock rather than from blood loss.

Signs and tests:

There may be signs and symptoms of:

• Coma
• Disseminated intravascular coagulation
• Shock

Tests used to diagnose Ebola fever include:

• CBC
• Electrolytes
• Tests of how well the blood will clot (coagulation studies)
• Tests to show whether someone has been exposed to the Ebola virus