Ebola Survivors may Develop Brain Issues

BEACON TRANSCRIPT – Although the disease is still far from being cured, it would seem that even those fortunate enough to be spared by the disease still bear its mark. According to a new neurological study, it would seem that Ebola survivors may develop brain issues, ranging from hallucination to contemplating suicidal thoughts.

Following the case of Nurse Pauline Cafferkey, who required immediate hospitalization for the third time, the scientific community thought that it is high time to conduct an extensive study on the post-effects of Ebola. Miss Cafferkey contracted the disease back in December 2014 after she traveled to Sierra Leone.

Prompted by this sudden apparition, the researchers working at the Institute of Neurological Disorder conducted a study on Ebola survivors. Unfortunately, according to their declaration, not even the young ones are spared from the recurrent symptoms of this disease.

In order to see how to what extent the Ebola survivors are affected, the Neurological Institute from the US conducted a clinical study on approximately 86 patients. Note that each of them contracted the disease during the outbreak in Liberia. The average age of the subjects was between 25 and 35years old.

According to Lauren Brown, the senior researchers, a vast majority of those infected with the Ebola virus manifested brain-related symptoms after only 6 months. These symptoms included body weakness, fatigue, memory loss and violent headaches. However, a couple of patients exhibited even worse symptoms.

The team declared that in their study, they have encountered a patient who suffered from hallucinations and delusions. What’s even worse is that the doctors also identified two patients that harbored suicide thoughts.

In the end, Doctor Brown concluded that even though the patients made a full recovery after being infected with the Ebola virus, they are not of the woods yet. Most of them are suffering from brain-related symptoms.

Up until known, the researchers couldn’t find any evidence concerning post-Ebola deaths. Still, taking into account the severity of these manifestations, it would be best offer around-the-clock care to patients who start to manifest one of the symptoms listed above.

In an interview offered to BBC, Doctor Brown said that is it perhaps regrettable that such young people should suffer brain-related issues. Moreover, Brown also pointed out the fact that it’s not enough to cure the patient of the disease, you must also perform multiple follow-ups in order to make sure that he or she doesn’t develop other complications.

According to a new US study, Ebola survivors may develop brain issue after just six months.

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