An American doctor who returned to the US infected with Ebola found that, despite being declared free of the disease, he was still carrying the virus in his eye months later.
Dr. Ian Crozier, 44, was diagnosed with Ebola in September 2014
while volunteering for the World Health Organization in Sierra
Leone. He was flown to the US, treated and cleared of the virus
at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. While there, he
received intensive treatment, was placed on a ventilator for 12
days and underwent dialysis for kidney failure for nearly a
month. He was declared cleared of the virus in October.
Months later, however, he developed an inflammation and very high
blood pressure in one eye, causing swelling and potentially
serious eye problems. He also experienced debilitating joint and
muscle pain, deep fatigue and hearing loss. Similar problems are
being reported in West Africa.
Doctors Just Discovered the Ebola Virus Can Live Inside the Eye
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Crozier returned to Emory, where some fluid was drained from his
eye and tested for Ebola. Tests confirmed his eye contained
Ebola, but tears and tissue around the outside of the eye were
free of the virus.
“It felt almost personal that the virus could be in my eyes
without me knowing it,” Dr. Crozier
told the New York Times upon discovering he was still
infected.
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Over the next five days, Crozier’s eye inflammation continued and
he experienced some vision loss. Three days later, the
inflammation improved, but he still had severe vision impairment
in his left eye. Three months after his first diagnosis with eye
inflammation, his condition had improved and he had recovered his
vision, the researchers said.
While still not fully recovered, he continues to improve despite
nearly losing his vision.
Officials knew the virus could persist in semen for months, but
other body fluids were thought to be clear of it once a patient
recovered.
A report about Dr. Crozier’s eye condition was published in the
New England Journal of Medicine on Thursday and doctors discussed
the case at an Association of Research in Vision and
Ophthalmology conference in Denver.
“This case highlights an important complication of [Ebola
virus disease], with major implications for both individual and
public health that are immediately relevant to the ongoing West
African outbreak,” the researchers
wrote in the report.
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Future studies are needed to assess how Ebola is able to persist
in certain places in the body, the researchers noted.
The World Health Organization said on Thursday that last week the
number of Ebola cases reported in Guinea and Sierra Leone dropped
to their lowest total this year. Liberia, which has had the most
deaths in the outbreak – more than 4,700 – plans to declare the
outbreak over on Sunday unless new cases are discovered.