Friday, 8 May 2015

American doctor declared free of Ebola finds the virus in his eye months later

                                     In October, a Doctors Without Borders health worker carries a child suspected of having Ebola in Liberia. Nonprofits often have to fill in the gaps in West Africa, where the health care system was <a href="http://kff.org/global-indicator/health-expenditure-per-capita/" target="_blank">extremely limited even before the epidemic.</a> Because of civil wars and extreme poverty, there aren't enough doctors: Liberia has 0.014 physicians per 1,000 people, Sierra Leone has 0.022 and Guinea has 0.1. In contrast, the United States has 2.5 doctors per 1,000 people.
American doctor Ian Crozier was treated for Ebola in Atlanta last year and declared free of the virus in his blood. But he had no way of knowing it still lurked in his eye. 

About two months after being released from the hospital, he experienced a piercing pain in his left eye, he told The New York Times. The pressure in his eye elevated while his vision decreased.
After repeated tests, doctors discovered the virus was still living in his eye.
                          Health workers in Liberia place a man suspected of dying from Ebola into a body bag in September. All the international attention brought to the region has improved public health in these countries: safer burial practices, better disease control, more health facilities and better public awareness about Ebola, the World Bank report said. <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/16/health/obama-ebola/">The United States pledged</a> more than $750 million to fight the disease. It sent troops, supplies and additional aid to West Africa. But it soon had its own concerns at home.
"It felt almost personal that the virus could be in my eye without me knowing it," he told the paper. 

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Source:  cnn.com
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