Domestic Ebola Disease Case Reporting Recommendations for Health Departments
CDC’s Viral Special Pathogens Branch (VSPB) is available 24/7 for consultations on Ebola disease or other viral hemorrhagic fevers by calling the CDC Emergency Operations Center at 770-488-7100 and requesting VSPB’s on-call epidemiologist.
For the purposes of this guidance, Ebola disease refers to the disease in humans caused by ebolaviruses, including Ebola virus (Zaire ebolavirus), Sudan virus (Sudan ebolavirus), Bundibugyo virus (Bundibugyo ebolavirus), and Tai Forest virus (Taï Forest ebolavirus).
Data collection
- CDC encourages health departments to collect the data listed in the 2022 Ebola Disease Case Report Form [550 KB, 5 pages] for patients who meet the suspect or confirmed Ebola disease case definition. Local health departments should check with state or territorial health authorities to confirm the desired case reporting process in their jurisdiction.
- Case reporting to CDC can be completed in one of two ways:
- Enter the necessary data directly into the CDC REDCap form configured for Ebola disease-specific reporting. Cases can be reported directly through this form. Contact spather@cdc.gov for the link.
- CDC can also provide REDCap project files for states requiring support for local implementation of a case report form data collection tool.
- Upload a .csv extract of local case report data to DCIPHER and share relevant documentation, including data dictionary. Contact spather@cdc.gov for access and instructions.
- Enter the necessary data directly into the CDC REDCap form configured for Ebola disease-specific reporting. Cases can be reported directly through this form. Contact spather@cdc.gov for the link.
- To ensure timely reporting, initial reports should be submitted to CDC within 24 hours. A data dictionary [XLS – 36 KB] detailing requested data elements is available. At minimum, the following data elements are required to submit a report:
- State or local ID
- State health department reporting
- Current case classification
- Date of symptom onset
- Where the patient’s sample tested positive for ebolavirus
- Date of specimen collection
- Remaining data elements should be submitted by re-uploading completed case data to DCIPHER or contacting spather@cdc.gov for instructions on how to update original REDCap case report form entries. CDC asks that these initial records be updated with additional data as soon as possible.
For more information on any of these procedures, please contact spather@cdc.gov
