Doctor who survived Ebola describes virus' aftermath on the body

[Disir]

Ebola survivor Dr. Ian Crozier says he continues to experience long-term effects of the virus, including hearing loss and seizures.

In a speech Wednesday (Oct. 7), Crozier provided his unique perspective on the devastating illness, from the point of view of a doctor who treated patients in West Africa who also became a patient himself. He described his struggle with not only the viral illness but also the numerous health complications that have appeared in the months since he was declared Ebola-free.

"It ain't over, even when it's over," Crozier said here at IDWeek 2015, a meeting of several organizations focused on fighting infectious diseases. [10 Deadly Diseases That Hopped Across Species]

Crozier also discussed unanswered questions about post-Ebola complications, and the need to develop ways to diagnose and treat these problems.
Doctor who survived Ebola describes virus' aftermath on the body

In case no one has heard, Pauline Cafferkey--the British nurse is back in the hospital
Ebola Survivor Back in Hospital Suffers Lingering Hold of Virus

So, not only is it immediately devastating--it's the gift that just keeps on giving.

 

[RodISHI]

I wondered what the effects would be on those poor souls if they did survive. Thank you for posting this.

 

[waltky]

Ebola comes back like malaria...

Ebola nurse Pauline Cafferkey 'critically ill' after condition deteriorates
Wednesday 14 October 2015 - Royal Free hospital says nurse is still in high-level isolation unit where she was being treated for late complication of the disease

Pauline Cafferkey, the nurse who suffered complications from the Ebola infection she contracted while volunteering in west Africa, is now critically ill, the Royal Free hospital in London has said. Cafferkey was flown from Glasgow, where she lives, to London for specialised care in an isolation tent at the Royal Free after she fell ill last week. Her family said the local medical staff were slow to realise this was a recurrence of the infection she had successfully fought last year.

Pauline Cafferkey was admitted to the Royal Free hospital last week with a late complication of her Ebola infection.​

The hospital said on Wednesday afternoon that her condition had deteriorated and that she was critically ill. It has not released further details of her illness. “We are sad to announce that Pauline Cafferkey’s condition has deteriorated and she is now critically ill. Pauline is being treated for Ebola in the high-level isolation unit at the Royal Free hospital,” a statement said. While there have been reports of the virus lingering in the eyes of survivors and of transmission through semen, Cafferkey is the first person known to have a life-threatening recurrence of Ebola viral disease – though it is entirely possible that other survivors in west Africa may have fallen ill in the same way but without coming to public attention.

Cafferkey’s illness has taken doctors by surprise. Jonathan Ball, professor of molecular virology at the University of Nottingham, said it was known the virus could linger, “but this is frankly staggering. I am not aware from the scientific literature of a case where Ebola has been associated with what we can only assume as life-threatening complications after someone has initially recovered, and certainly not so many months after. “Without knowing the full details it is difficult to comment but I know that the team at the Royal Free will be doing everything in their powers to help her recover. Whilst we don’t know her specific symptoms we have been reassured that before she was admitted to the Royal Free she wasn’t exhibiting any that we’d associate with a transmission risk to others, so contact monitoring and vaccination is a precautionary measure.”

MORE

 

[waltky]

Male ebola survivors can carry ebola up to 9 months...

Study: Ebola in male survivors can survive up to 9 months
Oct 14,`15 -- Doctors have found that Ebola can linger in some male survivors for up to nine months but aren't sure if that means they might still be infectious, according to new research.

In a study of 93 men in Sierra Leone, scientists found the Ebola virus in semen samples from about half of them. The risk seemed to decline over time. Ebola was detected in all nine men tested at two to three months after their illness began but in only 11 of the 43 survivors tested at seven to nine months. Researchers aren't sure why Ebola remains in semen as opposed to other bodily fluids and don't know if the lingering virus might sicken others. "We think there is a potential risk of exposure but we cannot determine that with 100 percent certainty right now," said Dr. Nathalie Broutet, an expert in sexually transmitted diseases at the World Health Organization and one of the study's authors. The paper was published online Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. WHO said previous studies showed the virus could survive in semen for about three months, though it noted one case where it remained for about six months. The U.N. health agency has said the sexual transmission of Ebola from men to women is "a strong possibility" even though the disease is mainly spread by direct contact with other bodily fluids like blood.

To date, Ebola has killed more than 11,000 people in West Africa in the outbreak that was first identified last year and now appears to be winding down. There's also about 17,000 Ebola survivors, about half of them male. The journal also published details of an Ebola case in March in Liberia, where a male survivor spread Ebola to a woman via unprotected sex five months after he became infected. In an accompanying commentary, Dr. Armand Sprecher of Doctors Without Borders said if sexual transmission of Ebola was a significant means of spreading the virus, "we would have seen a number of cases by now," given the thousands of male Ebola survivors in West Africa. People with Ebola are believed to be most infectious when they are the sickest. Sprecher said the results suggest that surveillance needs to last longer than now recommended once an outbreak is thought to be over in an area. WHO and others recommend that male survivors of the lethal disease abstain from sex or use condoms for at least three months after their recovery. After that, they should be tested every month until they have two consecutive negative tests.

WHO says it's unknown how long Ebola survives in vaginal fluid, and says it's less probable that a woman who has survived Ebola could spread it to a man through sex. Broutet said it was unclear whether the men whose samples tested positive for Ebola had any long-term side effects and if so, whether the virus might be responsible. Many survivors suffer from chronic problems including vision loss and joint pain. Dr. Francis Moses, a district medical officer in northern Sierra Leone, said it was difficult convincing male Ebola survivors to use condoms or abstain from sex. "The abstinence thing isn't working," he said, noting there are a number of pregnant women in his district whose partners are Ebola survivors. Moses said the fact that thousands of Ebola survivors are living in West Africa means scientists need to figure out whether sex is a significant risk to the re-emergence of the disease. "If we don't find a way of addressing this, we will never stop Ebola," he said.

News from The Associated Press

 

[waltky]

From Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tenn.

Antibodies from Ebola survivors may lead to better treatment
Jan. 22, 2016 - Monoclonal antibodies derived from humans were effective against multiple strains of the virus.

Scientists identified antibodies from Ebola survivors they report can kill multiple forms of the deadly virus, according to a new study. The development changes concerns that separate vaccines or treatments would be necessary for each species of Ebola, with scientists at Vanderbilt University and the University of Texas suggesting one drug could be used to treat or prevent all types of the virus. The Ebola virus is spread by contact with bodily fluids from infected people, killing more than one-third of those who are infected, according to the World Health Organization.

Monoclonal antibodies are clones of white blood cells fused to myeloma cells used to target specific cells. While antibody treatments cannot offer permanent protection like vaccines, they offer a temporary buffer from infection and can be used to treat people already infected with the virus. While a vaccine showed 100 percent efficacy in a 2015, it has not been approved for use yet. Researchers also continue working on treatments for the virus, including monoclonal antibodies. Researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine created a monoclonal antibody treatment using mice that kills two types of Ebola.

Dr. James Crowe, director of the Vanderbilt Vaccine Center, watches graduate student Andrew Flyak “plate” antibody-producing B cells from people in Africa who have survived infection by the Ebola virus.​

Scientists working on the study, published in the journal Cell, isolated and generated large numbers of monoclonal human antibodies from Ugandan survivors of a 2007 outbreak who were infected by the species Bundibugyo ebolavirus. "In this study, a remarkably diverse array of virus-specific antibodies was isolated, which appeared to bind to various parts of the envelope protein of the virus," said Dr. Alexander Bukreyev, a researcher at the University of Texas Medical Branch, in a press release. "Some of the antibodies neutralized not only Ebola Bundibugyo virus, but also Ebola Sudan virus and Ebola Zaire virus, similar to that which caused the recent outbreak in West Africa."

Bukreyev said using human antibodies, rather than mouse antibodies as in previous studies, may lead to better treatments. More important is that multiple studies have now found methods to attack multiple types of Ebola at a once, which could make it easier to deal with future outbreaks. "This work suggests there are common elements across different groups of Ebola viruses," said Dr. James Crowe, a professor at Vanderbilt University. "Maybe we can come up with one therapeutic or one vaccine that would solve all of them."

Antibodies from Ebola survivors may lead to better treatment

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Ebola survivor Dr. Ian Crozier says he continues to experience long-term effects of the virus, including hearing loss and seizures.

In a speech Wednesday (Oct. 7), Crozier provided his unique perspective on the devastating illness, from the point of view of a doctor who treated patients in West Africa who also became a patient himself. He described his struggle with not only the viral illness but also the numerous health complications that have appeared in the months since he was declared Ebola-free.

"It ain't over, even when it's over," Crozier said here at IDWeek 2015, a meeting of several organizations focused on fighting infectious diseases. [10 Deadly Diseases That Hopped Across Species]

Crozier also discussed unanswered questions about post-Ebola complications, and the need to develop ways to diagnose and treat these problems.
Doctor who survived Ebola describes virus' aftermath on the body

In case no one has heard, Pauline Cafferkey--the British nurse is back in the hospital
Ebola Survivor Back in Hospital Suffers Lingering Hold of Virus

So, not only is it immediately devastating--it's the gift that just keeps on giving.

Hey! I've got a great idea! Instead of keeping Ebola infected people in any of the 19 Level IV hospital beds we've already set up around the country, let's let them on airplanes and roam around the countryside as if they only had a bad case of the sniffles.

What's the worst that could happen?

 

[waltky]

Ebola takes a toll on long-term health...

Ebola 'devastates long-term health'
Thu, 25 Feb 2016 - Most people who survive infection with Ebola will have long-term health problems, according to doctors.

Their studies on survivors in Liberia showed large numbers had developed weakness, memory loss and depressive symptoms in the six months after being discharged from an Ebola unit. Other patients were "actively suicidal" or still having hallucinations. More than 17,000 people in West Africa have survived Ebola infection. The evidence, being presented at the annual meeting of the Academy of Neurology, is an early glimpse at a much wider study of long-term health problems after Ebola.

The initial analysis, on 82 survivors, showed most had had severe neurological problems at the height of the infection, including meningitis, hallucinations or falling into a coma. Six months later, new long-term problems had developed. About two-thirds had body weakness, while regular headaches, depressive symptoms and memory loss were found in half of patients. Two of the patients had been actively suicidal at the time of the assessment.

Dr Lauren Bowen, from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, told the BBC: "It was pretty striking, this is a young population of patients, and we wouldn't expect to have seen these sorts of problems. "When people had memory loss, it tended to affect their daily living, with some feeling they couldn't return to school or normal jobs, some had terrible sleeping problems. "Ebola hasn't gone away for these people." Infection with Ebola ravages the body. Some of the symptoms could improve with time as the body heals, others may be down to social trauma as many survivors are ostracised from their families and communities. But other symptoms, including eye problems, indicate damage to the brain, which may not heal.

Sexually active

Meanwhile, data presented earlier, at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, raised concerns about sexual transmission of the virus in survivors. It indicated 38% of men had tested positive for Ebola in their semen on at least one occasion in the year after recovering. And in the most extreme case, Ebola had been detected 18 months later. Yet most survivors reported being sexually active, with only four in every 100 using a condom.

Ebola 'devastates long-term health' - BBC News

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Ebola takes a toll on long-term health...

Ebola 'devastates long-term health'
Thu, 25 Feb 2016 - Most people who survive infection with Ebola will have long-term health problems, according to doctors.

Their studies on survivors in Liberia showed large numbers had developed weakness, memory loss and depressive symptoms in the six months after being discharged from an Ebola unit. Other patients were "actively suicidal" or still having hallucinations. More than 17,000 people in West Africa have survived Ebola infection. The evidence, being presented at the annual meeting of the Academy of Neurology, is an early glimpse at a much wider study of long-term health problems after Ebola.

The initial analysis, on 82 survivors, showed most had had severe neurological problems at the height of the infection, including meningitis, hallucinations or falling into a coma. Six months later, new long-term problems had developed. About two-thirds had body weakness, while regular headaches, depressive symptoms and memory loss were found in half of patients. Two of the patients had been actively suicidal at the time of the assessment.

Dr Lauren Bowen, from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, told the BBC: "It was pretty striking, this is a young population of patients, and we wouldn't expect to have seen these sorts of problems. "When people had memory loss, it tended to affect their daily living, with some feeling they couldn't return to school or normal jobs, some had terrible sleeping problems. "Ebola hasn't gone away for these people." Infection with Ebola ravages the body. Some of the symptoms could improve with time as the body heals, others may be down to social trauma as many survivors are ostracised from their families and communities. But other symptoms, including eye problems, indicate damage to the brain, which may not heal.

Sexually active

Meanwhile, data presented earlier, at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, raised concerns about sexual transmission of the virus in survivors. It indicated 38% of men had tested positive for Ebola in their semen on at least one occasion in the year after recovering. And in the most extreme case, Ebola had been detected 18 months later. Yet most survivors reported being sexually active, with only four in every 100 using a condom.

Ebola 'devastates long-term health' - BBC News

Hey! I've got a great idea! Instead of keeping Ebola infected people in any of the 19 Level IV hospital beds we've already set up around the country, let's let them on airplanes and roam around the countryside as if they only had a bad case of the sniffles.

What's the worst that could happen?