American Ebola patient being treated at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta - Cured, discharged - Persistence of Ebola Virus

[sharon sanders]

From: WorldHealthOrganizationNews@who.int
To: undisclosed-recipients@null, null@null
Subject: WHO doctor to be evacuated after testing positive for Ebola in Sierra Leone
Date: Sep 8, 2014 1:32 PM

Please receive this press release from the WHO Country Office in Sierra Leone
Best regards,
WHO Media team



WHO doctor to be evacuated after testing positive for Ebola in Sierra Leone


FREETOWN, Sierra Leone ? 8 September 2014 ? A WHO doctor working in an Ebola treatment centre in Sierra Leone has tested positive for the disease. To ensure the safety of all, WHO will recommend that new admissions be limited while an investigation is launched. The doctor is currently in stable condition in Freetown, and will be evacuated shortly.


The Ebola treatment centre is located in the Kenema Government Hospital, which is run by the Sierra Leone Ministry of Health and Sanitation. WHO?s initial role in the facility was to offer guidance on setting up an Ebola treatment centre, and to provide mentorship and direction to national staff until they could manage the facilities with local capacity.


Health-care workers are the backbone of the Ebola outbreak response and ensuring their safety is critical. While an urgent, thorough, on-site assessment has been initiated by WHO, three doctors will be moved to the clinic to continue oversight of patient care.



Media contacts:


Nyka Alexander in Freetown, Sierra Leone
Mobile +232 78 335 660
Email nyka.alexander@gmail.com

Tarik Jasarevic in Geneva
Mobile +41 79 747 2756
Email jasarevict@who.int

[Pathfinder]

American Ebola patient being treated at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta

4th Ebola Patient to Be Flown to US for Care

ATLANTA — Sep 8, 2014, 5:31 PM ET
By JOSH FUNK Associated Press

<?xml:namespace prefix = fb ns = "http://www.facebook.com/2008/fbml" /><fb:like class=" fb_iframe_widget" font="arial" show_faces="false" width="90" layout="button_count" send="false" href="http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/doctor-ebola-tolerating-treatment-25356031" fb-xfbml-state="rendered" fb-iframe-plugin-query="app_id=fa71b3ce3ced40d47a4850f185b245d9&fon t=arial&href=http&#37;3A%2F%2Fabcnews.go.com%2FTec hnology%2FwireStory%2Fdoctor-ebola-tolerating-treatment-25356031&layout=button_count&locale=en_US&sdk=joey &send=false&show_faces=false&width=90"><IFRAME style="WIDTH: 0px; HEIGHT: 0px; VISIBILITY: visible" title="fb:like Facebook Social Plugin" height=1000 src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?app_id=fa71b3ce3ced40d47a4850f185b245d9&c hannel=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic.ak.facebook.com%2Fconne ct%2Fxd_arbiter%2FZEbdHPQfV3x.js%3Fversion%3D41%23 cb%3Df194c118be43b5f%26domain%3Dabcnews.go.com%26o rigin%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fabcnews.go.com%252Ff24f 535d4944892%26relation%3Dparent.parent&font=arial& href=http%3A%2F%2Fabcnews.go.com%2FTechnology%2Fwi reStory%2Fdoctor-ebola-tolerating-treatment-25356031&layout=button_count&locale=en_US&sdk=joey &send=false&show_faces=false&width=90" frameBorder=0 width=90 allowTransparency name=f247a7c09340a74 scrolling=no></IFRAME></fb:like>An Atlanta hospital says a patient infected with Ebola will be brought from West Africa to its isolation unit for treatment.

Emory University Hospital says the patient is expected to arrive Tuesday morning.
...
The World Health Organization, however, says a doctor who has been working in an Ebola treatment center in Sierra Leone has tested positive for the disease. It says the doctor is in Freetown and will be evacuated.
...

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/doctor-ebola-tolerating-treatment-25356031

[Pathfinder]

Re: 4th Ebola Patient to Be Flown to US for Care

Another Ebola-Stricken Patient Heads to U.S.

?The patient is being transported by air ambulance from West Africa. The patient is expected to arrive tomorrow morning. We do not know exactly what time the patient will arrive,? Emory said in a statement. ?We are bound by patient confidentiality and have no information regarding the status of the incoming patient.? The World Health Organization declined to say if the patient is a WHO doctor infected in Sierre Leone.
...

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ebola-virus-outbreak/another-ebola-stricken-patient-heads-u-s-n198661

[Pathfinder]

Re: 4th Ebola Patient to Be Flown to US for Care

Fourth Ebola patient arrives in U.S. for care

By Colleen Jenkins
Tue Sep 9, 2014 10:15am EDT

(Reuters) - ...

An air ambulance carrying the new patient landed Tuesday morning at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Atlanta television station WSB-TV footage showed.

Emory University Hospital confirmed it would be treating the patient, who was not identified.

The hospital said in an earlier statement that the patient would be treated in the same isolation unit for serious infectious diseases where U.S. missionaries Nancy Writebol and Dr. Kent Brantly also received care for the lethal virus before being discharged last month.
...
The World Health Organization said on Monday that one of its doctors stationed in an Ebola treatment center in Sierra Leone had tested positive for the disease. That doctor was being evacuated from Freetown, the WHO has said, without disclosing the person's identity or where he or she was headed.

It was not immediately clear if the patient arriving in Atlanta on Tuesday was the WHO's physician or if the patient was an American. The health organization has released no additional information on their doctor, and representatives for the U.S. State Department could not be immediately reached for comment.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/09/us-health-ebola-usa-idUSKBN0H415R20140909

[Pathfinder]

American Ebola patient being treated at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta

American Ebola patient arrives at Emory in Atlanta

From Jen Christensen, Josh Levs, and Debra Goldschmidt, CNN

updated 9:26 AM EDT, Wed September 10, 2014

Atlanta (CNN) -- A male U.S. citizen who contracted the Ebola virus in Sierra Leone arrived Tuesday at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. The patient could be seen walking, apparently with some help from one person, into the facility.

The patient, whose name has not been released publicly, was taken from Africa in an air ambulance.

The State Department described the patient as a U.S. citizen.

On Monday, the World Health Organization said a doctor working for the agency in an Ebola treatment center in Sierra Leone tested positive for the virus. WHO would not reveal the doctor's nationality nor where he or she would be evacuated to for treatment.
...

http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/09/health/ebola-patient-emory-atlanta/

[sharon sanders]

Re: American Ebola patient being treated at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta

Apparently still being treated as of October 6, 2014.

Name: Unknown
Age: Unknown
Organization: The World Health Organization has said a doctor working for the agency tested positive for Ebola on September 8.
Where he was infected: Sierra Leone
Where he is being treated: The man arrived at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta on September 9.
Current status: "We are still treating the patient with Ebola virus disease at Emory University Hospital, but we do not have a condition update," Emory representatives told CNN Monday. The HIPAA Privacy Rule prevents them from sharing any patient information without his permission.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/06/health/american-ebola-patients/

[Pathfinder]

Re: American Ebola patient being treated at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta

UPDATE: October 15, 2014

Emory is currently caring for a third patient with Ebola virus disease who arrived at Emory University Hospital on Sept. 9. Emory is bound by patient confidentiality and has provided no information regarding the status of the patient.

Given the recent news regarding the diagnosis of Ebola virus disease in health care workers, the patient has requested that we release the following statement, but continue to maintain anonymity:

Statement From Emory University Hospital Patient Recovering From Ebola

?Given the national focus on Ebola, particularly with the diagnosis in two health care workers, I want to share the news that I am recovering from this disease, and that I anticipate being discharged very soon, free from the Ebola virus and able to return safely to my family and to my community.

As a result of the virus, my condition worsened and I became critically ill soon after I arrived at Emory. Through rigorous medical treatment, skillful nursing, and the full support of a healthcare team, I am well on the way to a full recovery. I want the public to know that although Ebola is a serious, complex disease, it is possible to recover and return to a healthy life. I wish to retain my anonymity for now, but I anticipate sharing more information in future weeks as I complete my recovery.?

http://advancingyourhealth.org/highlights/2014/10/15/emory-ebola-patient-transfer-from-dallas/

[Chicagogal]

Re: American Ebola patient being treated at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta

A third unnamed patient with Ebola being treated at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta has survived the virus and has been discharged.

The patient, who asked to remain anonymous and is not one of the Dallas nurses, arrived at Emory on Sept. 9. Emory University Hospital announced on Monday that the patient was determined to be free of the virus and was discharged on Sunday Oct. 19.

http://time.com/3525570/emory-third-...0Top%20Stories)

[Pathfinder]

Re: American Ebola patient being treated at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta - cured, discharged

An Ebola Doctor?s Return From the Edge of Death

By DENISE GRADYDEC. 7, 2014

PHOENIX ? ...

Dr. Crozier, 44, contracted the disease in Sierra Leone while treating Ebola patients in the government hospital in Kenema. He was evacuated to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta on Sept. 9, the third American with Ebola to be airlifted there from West Africa. He had a long, agonizing illness, with 40 days in the hospital and dark stretches when his doctors and his family feared he might sustain brain damage or die. His identity was kept secret at his request, to protect his family?s privacy.

Now, for the first time, he is speaking out. His reason, he said, is to thank Emory for the extraordinary care he received, and to draw attention to the continuing epidemic. He and his family granted their first interviews to The New York Times, and gave permission to interview his physicians.
...
Dr. Crozier, soft-spoken and genial, is now on the mend in Phoenix, where his parents and sister live. But the disease has taken its toll. Six-foot-5 and 220 pounds before he got Ebola, he has lost 30 pounds, much of it muscle. He tires easily, but has begun a grueling physical therapy program to rebuild wasted muscles.

?Ian was by far the sickest patient with Ebola virus that we?ve cared for at Emory,? said Dr. Jay B. Varkey, an infectious-disease specialist.

Doctors say his recovery has taught them that aggressive treatments, even life-support measures like ventilators and dialysis, can save some Ebola patients. Dr. Bruce S. Ribner, who leads the Emory team, said that until recently the general practice was not to bother intubating Ebola patients or put them on dialysis, because if they got that sick they were going to die.
...

Full text:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/08/health/ebola-doctor-ian-crozier-return-from-the-edge-of-death-.html?_r=2

[Pathfinder]

Ebola Survivor: The Best Word For The Virus Is 'Aggression'

December 27, 2014 6:59 AM ET
Jason Beaubien
...
When Dr. Ian Crozier arrived in West Africa this past summer, he was stepping into the epicenter of the Ebola hot zone. The American doctor was working in the Ebola ward of a large, public hospital in Sierra Leone's dusty city of Kenema.

The trip nearly cost him his life...
...
"I think most of us who've spent time on the isolation wards anywhere in the region will tell you that nothing really prepares you for the realities of treating patients back there," Crozier says.

He says the virus behaved unlike any other he'd seen before: "The best word I can think of is 'aggression.' "

The disease comes on with a fever spike and then doubles the patient over with vomiting and diarrhea. Ebola robs people of their dignity, Crozier says. Patients become so weak that they can't lift themselves out of bed; they're left lying in their own stool and vomit.

"Then shortly after that particularly ominous predictor of death ? at least in my experience ? patients become somewhat vacant," he says. "This can range from mild confusion to delirium."

"Many patients on the ward are out of their minds in a sense," he adds.
...
Crozier was released from Emory on Oct. 19. He's still recuperating from the near fatal illness but hopes to eventually go back to West Africa and treat Ebola patients.

"I think I have a new understanding of what it's like to be an Ebola patient," he says. "That will be a gift in not just in thinking about the technical aspects of people's care but how to lend them some dignity in those isolation wards."

Like many other Ebola survivors, Crozier still suffers from extreme fatigue and has some swelling that's causing eye problems. His doctors at Emory say they simply don't know how long it will take for him to make a full recovery, but they're confident he will.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/goatsandsoda/2014/12/27/372903314/ebola-survivor-the-best-word-for-the-virus-is-aggression

[Pathfinder]

Before he contracted Ebola, Dr. Ian Crozier had two blue eyes. After he was told he was cured of the disease, his left eye turned green.Credit Emory Eye Center

Weeks After His Recovery, Ebola Lurked in a Doctor?s Eye

By DENISE GRADYMAY 7, 2015

ATLANTA ? When he was released from Emory University Hospital in October after a long, brutal fight with Ebola that nearly ended his life, Dr. Ian Crozier?s medical team thought he was cured. But less than two months later, he was back at the hospital with fading sight, intense pain and soaring pressure in his left eye.

Test results were chilling: The inside of Dr. Crozier?s eye was teeming with Ebola.

His doctors were amazed. They had considered the possibility that the virus had invaded his eye, but they had not really expected to find it. Months had passed since Dr. Crozier became ill while working in an Ebola treatment ward in Sierra Leone as a volunteer for the World Health Organization. By the time he left Emory, his blood was Ebola-free. Although the virus may persist in semen for months, other body fluids were thought to be clear of it once a patient recovered. Almost nothing was known about the ability of Ebola to lurk inside the eye.

Despite the infection within his eye, Dr. Crozier?s tears and the surface of his eye were virus-free, so he posed no risk to anyone who had casual contact with him.
...

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/08/health/weeks-after-his-recovery-ebola-lurked-in-a-doctors-eye.html

[Emily]

http://www.livescience.com/52424-ebola-survivor-ian-crozier-health.html

Doctor Who Survived Ebola Describes Disease's Aftermath on the Body

by Rachael Rettner, Senior Writer | October 08, 2015 11:15am ET
SAN DIEGO ? Ebola survivor Dr. Ian Crozier says he continues to experience long-term effects of the disease, including hearing loss and seizures.
...
Crozier also experienced cognitive symptoms, including problems with his short-term memory, he said. Two months ago, he had a seizure while attending a wedding in England, and started taking an anti-epileptic drug...

http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/61/4/496

both patients recovered without serious long-term sequelae to date

I think he was one of those two in that report - they should update again, if so. I think that treatment's trial was discontinued.

[Nox]

I attended Dr. Crozier's speech at the conference's opening plenary. Very moving!

[Emily]

I attended Dr. Crozier's speech at the conference's opening plenary. Very moving!

You were very fortunate to hear him speak, Nox!

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/852409#vp_2

"A Superhero in Medicine"
The extended standing ovation that followed the talk is quite unusual, said James Hughes, MD, from Emory University, who is the Infectious Diseases Society of America conference chair.
...
"He is a superhero in medicine because he really has a commitment to take care of people who have desperate needs in areas of the world where most of us would feel uncomfortable," Dr Bartlett told Medscape Medical News.

[Gert van der Hoek]

Ebola Returns: 2nd Case of Relapse Raises Questions


by Ashley P. Taylor, Live Science Contributor | October 20, 2015

Post-Ebola complications have been reported from both the 2014 outbreak and previous ones, Dr. Nahid Bhadelia, an infectious-disease specialist at Boston University, told Live Science. Another health care worker who also became infected while treating patients in Africa, U.S. physician Ian Crozier, has reported that he suffered from hearing loss, back pain, seizures and vision problems since he recovered from Ebola last year. These are the kinds of symptoms many Ebola survivors have, Bhadelia said.

But cases of Ebola relapse, or recurrence — severe, sudden illness associated with the detection of the virus in the body — are different from these complications, said Dr. Jesse Goodman, an infectious-disease expert at Georgetown University. Cafferkey's case is the second documented instance of probable viral relapse in a recovered Ebola patient, Goodman said. [The 9 Deadliest Viruses on Earth]

The other case was Crozier, Goodman said. Nine weeks after Crozier's blood was found to be Ebola-free, he suffered severe inflammation (uveitis) of his left eye. Tests of the fluid within the eye revealed that the Ebola virus was still there, and replicating.

The distinction between "complications" and "relapse" is somewhat blurry, Goodman said. After the acute infection subsides,

Ebola seems to persist in several parts of the body where the immune system is less active, such as the eye, where Crozier's Ebola flared up; the brain; the placenta; the testes; and, sometimes, joint cartilage, Bhadelia said.

It's possible that the rare cases of relapse, as well as the more common post-Ebola complications, could be related to the lingering virus, Goodman said.

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