Ebola symptoms found to linger in survivors new study

New studies indicate that Ebola survivors are suffering long-term effects from their bout with the deadly virus, NBC reports. Former victims in the developed world have reported complications that include headaches, memory loss, vision problems and infected semen.

However, thousands of inhabitants of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone are also experiencing setbacks, according to researchers. “While an end to the outbreak has been declared, these survivors are still struggling with long-term problems,” said Dr. Lauren Bowen of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), who worked on one of the studies.

Scottish nurse Pauline Cafferkey was admitted to a London hospital for a second time after her original convalescence. She contracted the virus while fighting the epidemic in West Africa. She was taken to the hospital when the virus metastasized in her spinal fluid causing symptoms. She is reported to be in stable condition this week after another occurrence with the virus, which can live in the eyes, semen, spines and brains of survivors.

Cafferkey is being studied for a possible course of action against Ebola. “We wanted to find out more about possible continued long-term brain health problems for the more than 17,000 survivors of the infection,” Bowen said.

Bowen and her team tracked 82 Ebola survivors and discovered brain symptoms lasted for more than six months after patients survived treatment. Among them are weakness, headache, memory loss, depressed mood and muscle pains. Two patients were even suicidal and one experienced hallucinations, researchers told the American Academy of Neurology.

Mosoka Fallah of the Liberian Ministry of Health, treating a larger community of patients as part of the same trial, discovered 60 percent or more of the 1,000 survivors had eye issues, 53 percent had musculoskeletal problems and 68 percent were found to have neurological setbacks.  Ebola was detected at least once in 38 percent of the 97 samples of semen collected. Fallah and researchers relayed the data to the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Boston. In one instance, the virus was found to have lasted 18 months.

The World Health Organization cautions Ebola survivors to abstain from sex for at least 90 days post recovery. Minimally, patients are advised to practice safe sex.