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Ebola Lurked In Cured Patient's Eye

Posted by Soulskill on from the things-I'd-like-to-avoid-in-my-lifetime dept.

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.

6 of 65 comments (clear)

  1. The more we learn about viruses... by tomhath · · Score: 4, Insightful

    All the research related to HIV taught us a lot, but this kind of thing makes it obvious that we don't know nearly as much about viruses as we thought.

    1. Re:The more we learn about viruses... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      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.

  2. Meanwhile on the loudspeaker by TheCreeep · · Score: 5, Funny

    We have detected ebola in patient's eye.
    Under no circumstances is anyone to make eye contact with the patient
    I repeat, no eye contact.

  3. Ebola Zombies with Green Eyes; Film at 11... by Grog6 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This is the start; a simple mutation that allows it to spread unnoticed throughout the population...

    "I totally got this eye infection, but it made my eyes this really rad color of green! Uh...Do you Smell Brains?!!" :)

    --
    Truth isn't Truth - Guliani
  4. Re:ebola stigma by NormalVisual · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I believe that the survivors are generally thought to be immune to further infection as well, so it's a bit scary that the virus can still find repositories in the body where it can hang out for longer periods of time.

    It's not anything particularly new - we've known for decades that anyone that's had chicken pox still has the dormant virus in a number of nerve ganglia near the spine, and sometimes it reactivates and causes shingles.

    --
    Please stand clear of the doors, por favor mantenganse alejado de las puertas
  5. Re:ebola stigma by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It's not anything particularly new - we've known for decades that anyone that's had chicken pox still has the dormant virus in a number of nerve ganglia near the spine, and sometimes it reactivates and causes shingles.

    And speak of the devil. My chicken pox virus was apparently hiding in the nerves associated with my left hip. Two weeks ago, I woke up with my left hip hurting. Later that day when I bitched about it, the wife looked at my behind and said "you've got shingles". Doctor agreed.

    It's almost done. Left hip only hurts a little, most of the pox is scabbed over or gone. Should be fine Real Soon Now.

    And as soon as I'm over this, have to get shingles vaccine. Which they only give to people at high risk for same. Having gotten it at a relatively young age (young by Shingles standards), I now qualify as being "at high risk for Shingles" according to the Doc....

    A bit more on-topic, Ebola has now established that it can establish a reservoir in a survivor, so ANY of the people who survived the latest round is a potential carrier.

    Plus Ebola has now established that it can transmit sexually (ebola is now a VD), if only rarely.

    So does this mean all ebola survivors need to be extremely careful about who they screw, and likewise anyone who might feel the urge to bang an ebola survivor?

    --

    "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"