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Ebola Lurked In Cured Patient's Eye
An anonymous reader writes: During the Ebola outbreak last year, Dr. Ian Crozier was infected. He was eventually airlifted to Emory University for treatment, and a couple months later he was cured of the disease — or so physicians thought. Not long after he was released, his left eye began bothering him. His sight faded, and he felt intense pressure and pain in his eye. Examination of the eye found it teeming with Ebola. His doctors were surprised. Cured patients frequently deal with health issues long after the virus is gone, but this adds a new dimension to the course of the disease.
Doctors say Crozier posed no threat to others through casual contact; the virus did not exist in his tears or on the surface of his eye. But in addition to the new symptoms, his eye turned from blue to green. And doctors had to rush to disinfect the exam area used for what they thought was an Ebola-free patient. Research is ongoing to determine whether and how to protect from this lingering ebola infection. One theory suggests the virus survived, but was damaged somehow. Crozier was treated with antiviral drugs, and his eye improved, but doctors aren't sure whether the drug actually helped. Either way, it's made the medical community realize this is a longer battle than they had thought.
Doctors say Crozier posed no threat to others through casual contact; the virus did not exist in his tears or on the surface of his eye. But in addition to the new symptoms, his eye turned from blue to green. And doctors had to rush to disinfect the exam area used for what they thought was an Ebola-free patient. Research is ongoing to determine whether and how to protect from this lingering ebola infection. One theory suggests the virus survived, but was damaged somehow. Crozier was treated with antiviral drugs, and his eye improved, but doctors aren't sure whether the drug actually helped. Either way, it's made the medical community realize this is a longer battle than they had thought.
She wasn't "cured", because she never had Ebola to begin with. She tested negative for the virus and was asymptomatic. It was the stupid politicians that overrided the doctors' conclusion that she wasn't infected.
Huh? It was already known that the eye is a potential reservoir for viruses. The inner eye has what's called "immune privilege". That is, to protect against damaging inflammation in the eye, the inner eye has a protective membrane impermeable to normal immune cells. If a virus manages to make it into the eyeball, it's more-or-less protected from the body's normal immune system.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immune_privilege
Doubtless there's a ton we don't know about our biology and the biology of viruses, but this wasn't one of them. The only gap in knowledge here was knowing whether the suspicions were correct--that Ebola could persist in the eye. It was long suspected, but because most Ebola patients die, and outbreaks were so quickly contained, there were never enough survivors to study. But now there are thousands of survivors.
You know, all of this is very well discussed in the news articles.