Dr. Ian Crozier thought he was on the road to recovery when he was released from a hospital in Atlanta last October after surviving an Ebola infection. But in 2 months, he was back in the hospital suffering from eye problems that included intense pain and soaring pressure in his left eye and failing eyesight.
Physicians at Emory University Hospital, where Crozier is being treated, learned that his left eye was loaded with Ebola virus. This finding stunned everyone because when Crozier left the hospital in October his blood was free of the virus. The virus is not found in his tears or on the surface of his eye; only in the interior.
Public health officials are learning that Ebola virus stays in the body longer than originally believed. It is now known to stay in a male survivor's semen for several months after he recovers. Other body fluids were thought to be clear of the virus once the patient recovered, however.
One of the more curious aspects of Crozier's case is that his left eye changed color from blue to green for a while. He also has suffered from severe joint and muscle pain, hearing loss on his left side, and extreme fatigue.
Science is still learning about the after effects of Ebola following the largest outbreak of the viral disease, in West Africa. Hospitals in the region are reporting that eye problems and chronic pain are common among survivors.
Crozier contracted Ebola as a volunteer physician in Sierra Leone. He was airlifted to Atlanta where he was treated with blood plasma from another survivor and an experimental antiviral drug. He suffered temporary failure of several organs, was on a mechanical ventilator for 12 days and had to undergo hemodialysis for 24 days.
A report on Crozier's case has been published in the New England Journal of Medicine. As is the usual custom, Crozier is not named as the patient in the article, but he is listed as one of the authors.
