Post-Infectious Ebola

[mfairma]

NPR posted an article today about post-infectious Ebola. It was a bit light on details of patients' symptoms, but I think some will find it interesting:

http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsan...of-job-ebola-survivors-who-continue-to-suffer

I posted a comment and in the process of doing so came across an interesting description of symptoms from a WHO psychosocial support officer seeing patients, posted in an article on the WHO website: Patients "complain of 'body aches' such as joint, muscle and chest paint . . . headaches and extreme fatigue, making it difficult to take up their former lives -- especially if it involved manual work -- as farmers, labourers and housewives." The quote is from an article posted last October, so I may be treading already posted ground. I may reach out to the author on facebook to ask whether he also has seen an emphasis on exercise problems in post-infectious patients.

 

[halcyon]

Clearly these post ebola patients need to get some exercise and CBT for their false illness beliefs.

Kidding aside, I hope some real research is done on these patients. It would be very interesting to see what their cytokine levels look like compared to ME patients. There was also this recent article about a doctor that survived his infection and was supposedly cured, only to find that he had persistent ebola infection continuing in his eye.

 

[Kati]

Clearly these post ebola patients need to get some exercise and CBT for their false illness beliefs.

Kidding aside, I hope some real research is done on these patients. It would be very interesting to see what their cytokine levels look like compared to ME patients. There was also this recent article about a doctor that survived his infection and was supposedly cured, only to find that he had persistent ebola infection continuing in his eye.

moreover there should be a comparative study between post ebola patients and patients with ME. Cytokines would be a good measure.

 

[mfairma]

It kills me how ready the medical community and society at large are to pull out the psychogenic explanation. I feel like it's a hydra, popping out of nothing with new heads everytime you lop one off.

 

[Denise]

NPR posted an article today about post-infectious Ebola. It was a bit light on details of patients' symptoms, but I think some will find it interesting:

http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsan...of-job-ebola-survivors-who-continue-to-suffer

I posted a comment....

Thanks for posting this here on PR and for posting your comment on NPR. Here's hoping you get a response.
I have read a few articles about post-infectious Ebola but do not remember seeing mention of incidence of post-infectious symptoms.

 

[Bob]

Thanks for posting.
There has been some discussion about this before.
Here's the thread, in case anyone is interested in reading more:
http://forums.phoenixrising.me/inde...ects-its-causing-a-post-viral-syndrome.34397/

 

[Martial]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...8/ebola-is-living-in-an-american-doctors-eye/

 

[Jammy88]

Post-Ebola? Just of matter of mental insanity.

LOL.


(Actually, that's very good news for us all… Let the researchers work hard and something will change in a near future)

 

[Gemini]

Kidding aside, I hope some real research is done on these patients. It would be very interesting to see what their cytokine levels look like compared to ME patients. There was also this recent article about a doctor that survived his infection and was supposedly cured, only to find that he had persistent ebola infection continuing in his eye.

@halcyon Thanks for posting the interesting New York Times article!

There's a New England Journal of Medicine case report describing this doctor's eye infection & other post-viral symptoms (he's one of the co-authors):

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1500306#t=article

Interestingly he had cognitive difficulties, low back pain, exercise intolerance, etc. "Ambulation was limited to short distances because of exertional fatigue."

Agree with you-- would be interesting to follow his cytokine & other biochemical indicators as his symptoms changed and especially when they improved.

Report calls for further studies of presence of virus in other 'immune-privileged sites" [other than the eye] e.g. in the central nervous system, gonads, and articular cartilage. This is a good recommendation.

 

[halcyon]

"Ambulation was limited to short distances because of exertional fatigue."

That's highly interesting, thanks for the link.

 

[Kati]

Dr Vincent Racaniello, virology professor just wrote a blog post about Post-Ebola Syndrome.

Check it out here.
http://www.virology.ws/2015/06/18/long-term-effects-of-ebolavirus-infection/

 

[leokitten]

What is very interesting is doctors have been finding most cases of post-ebola syndrome (other than still finding virus in immune-privileged areas like the eye and testes) to be some kind of autoimmune disorder:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/04/us-health-ebola-survivors-idUSKBN0L81WA20150204

Kelly said some Ebola after-effects appear linked to the infection itself, with some patients developing symptoms similar to so-called autoimmune disorders - where the immune system is over stimulated and begins to attack the body's own tissues. Other patients develop symptoms similar to uveitis, he said, an eye inflammation causing blindness.

"With post-Ebola syndrome there is an autoimmune response: it's revved up, and we don't really know why," he told Reuters by telephone from Sierra Leone where he is helping with the Ebola response.

https://publichealthwatch.wordpress...la-syndrome-plagues-survivors-in-west-africa/

While health experts are still struggling to explain the phenomenon, it is thought that Ebola infection might be making survivors more prone to autoimmune disorders, a medical condition where an over-stimulated immune system fails to recognize healthy tissues and attacks them. Doctors say they aren’t sure how long the symptoms will persist, and the long-term prognosis for survivors remains unclear.

 

[Kati]

Post-Ebola syndrome needs to be examined side by side with ME.