Ebola found in doctor's eye, months after being cleared

For the first time, Ebola has been discovered inside the
eyes of a patient, months after the virus was gone from
his blood.
Ebola has infected more than 26 000 people since
December 2013 in West Africa. Some survivors have
reported eye problems but how often they occur isn't
known. The virus also is thought to be able to persist in
semen for several months.
The new report concerns Dr Ian Crozier, a 43-year-old
American physician diagnosed with Ebola in September
while working with the World Health Organisation in Sierra
Leone.
He was treated at Emory University Hospital's special
Ebola unit in Atlanta and released in October when Ebola
was no longer detected in his blood. Two months later, he
developed an inflammation and very high blood pressure
in one eye, which causes swelling and potentially serious
vision problems.
He returned to Emory, where ophthalmologist Dr Steven
Yeh drained some of the fluid and had it tested for Ebola.
It contained the virus but tears and tissue around the
outside of his eye did not.
That suggests that casual contact with an Ebola survivor
poses no public health risk, but shows that survivors need
to be monitored for the eye problem, Yeh said.
Vision improving
Crozier has not fully recovered his vision but continues to
improve, Yeh said.
Dr Jay Varkey, an Emory infectious disease specialist, said
those involved in Crozier's care wore recommended
protective gear and monitored themselves for Ebola
symptoms for several weeks afterward as a precaution.
Doctors discussed the case at an Association for Research
in Vision and Ophthalmology conference in Denver on
Thursday, and the New England Journal of Medicine
published their account online.
Earlier on Thursday, the World Health Organisation said
that the number of Ebola cases reported in Guinea and
Sierra Leone last week dropped to its lowest total this
year.
Liberia, which has had the most deaths in the outbreak -
more than 4 700 - plans on Saturday to declare the
outbreak over in that country unless new cases are
discovered.