10. Abdominal Pain
When the Ebola virus starts to attack the digestive system, the patient begins to see an acceleration of their symptoms. More than 70-percent of the immune system resides in the gut – So, when the infection spreads to this region of the body, it’s cause for grave concern among healthcare professionals.
Should the virus continue to progress, the patient may start to experience severe stomach pains as the hemorrhagic properties of the virus begin to cause substantial internal bleeding in the digestive tract. As a result, the patient may start to pass bloody stools or bloody diarrhea.
It’s at this stage of the disease where the patient will pull through and make a recovery, or the virus wins, and the patient perishes. Even if the patient does recover, the chances are that they may need the assistance of a colostomy bag for the rest of their life.
The virus also does substantial damage to the immune system, and it may take the patient several years to fully recover from the effects of the disease.