Ebola and the Eye: Challenges, Discovery and the Work Ahead

Dr. Steven Yeh and his team at Emory University Hospital were the first to discover that the Ebola virus can persist in the eye after a patient is declared disease-free. Dr. Yeh’s patient, Dr. Ian Crozier was suffering from a severe case of post-Ebola uveitis at the time of the discovery. Even though, the uveitis cleared and Dr. Crozier regained vision, he continues to suffer lingering effects of the virus. Since then, Drs. Yeh and Crozier have traveled back to West Africa to help develop treatment protocols to maintain eye health in Ebola survivors. Increased travel and accessibility continue to make the world smaller from a public health standpoint, and Yeh stresses the need for more investigation on the impact of tropical diseases on ophthalmic systems.