Forty-three-year old Dr Ian Crozier survived the virus after being flown to the Emory University Hospital in Atlanta last year, after contacting the virus while working in Sierra Leone.
But recently the physician complained of a burning sensation in his left eye and also about his eye being sensitive to light, and the feeling that something was stuck in his eye continued to bother him.
He then suffered blurred vision, pain and inflammation, and the colour of his eye turned from grey to green.
Doctors decided to test his aqueous humour, the watery substance inside the eye, and it tested positive for Ebola.
This discovery took the doctors by surprise who were all unaware that the virus could hide and grow in the eyes after it has been vanquished elsewhere in the body.
“This case highlights an important complication with major implications for both individual and public health,” write the authors of a report of the case in the New England Journal of Medicine.
NPR reports that medical professionals have suspected that the immune adaptations in the eye that guard again inflammation may make eyes more vulnerable to Ebola.
Another body organ which is said could harbour the virus is the male testes “immune-privileged” organ via semen.
Earlier this year a Liberian woman was diagnosed with Ebola after having unprotected sex with a man six months after he was deemed cured.
Doctors have, however, reassured the world that contact with an infected eye would not transmit the virus.
Tests ran on the infected tears and eyelid tested negative for the virus even while it was inside his eye.
Dr Crozier has recovered and his eye and sight were saved, but in Africa alone there are around 15,000 survivors who might not have access to medical facilities and could risk going blind if eye problems due to Ebola are not diagnosed and treated in time, doctors warn.
Ebola has infected more than 26,000 people since December 2013 in West Africa, and 20 in Nigeria."
No comments:
Post a Comment