A nurse from Scotland who recovered from Ebola 10 months ago is now critically ill and in the hospital in London. Pauline Cafferkey's condition shows that the medical world is still learning about Ebola and the virus that causes it.
Cafferkey contracted Ebola while working as a volunteer in Sierra Leone. But her doctors do not understand why she has fallen ill again so many months after her initial infection. Speculation has focused on the role of the severity of her initial illness. Another potential factor is the experimental treatments, including treatments with antibodies, she and other patients received when they were treated in Western hospitals.
"It's an emerging story, emerging science," Dr. Daniel Bausch, a technical consultant on Ebola with the World Health Organization, told The New York Times.
This case is of concern for what it means to the thousands of survivors in West Africa, where the Ebola outbreak is still festering.
The Royal Free Hospital, where Cafferkey is being treated, called her condition "an unusual late complication of her previous infection," and said that she was being treated for Ebola. The virus managed to somehow persist in her spinal fluid and apparently is causing a severe neurological condition similar to meningitis. Cafferkey had seemed healthy, but started feeling ill in recent days.
The Ebola virus is known to persist for months in certain tissues of the body that are relatively protected from the immune system, including the eyes and the testes.
Survivors of Ebola commonly report lasting complications such as body aches, joint pain, and eye and ear problems. There have been some reports of neurological problems in survivors, but not a delayed encephalitis or meningitis as with Cafferkey.
Dr. Ian Crozier, another medical volunteer, contracted Ebola in Sierra Leone. After he recovered, he developed a severe inflammatory condition deep inside his left eye. A scan of his brain indicated that he also had suffered from encephalitis.
