Survivors of Ebola suffer from long term brain damage, a new study has warned.
The warnings come after the US’s health protection agency declared the current outbreak could become the largest on record, and the NHS told staff to prepare for a potential outbreak in the UK.
Researchers from JAMA Neurology analysed 148 people who have previously had the virus and followed them for nearly a decade.
They found that patients had headaches, altered mental status, meningitis symptoms and memory loss.
Seven years later, most survivors’ symptoms and findings had improved, but many still had neurological symptoms, most notably memory loss.
Experts say that their findings should change the way that the virus is treated.
‘These and other findings demonstrate EVD should be recognised as a potentially neurotropic disease with long-lasting outcomes, highlighting critical need for therapeutic interventions protecting the nervous system,’ the study authors wrote.
Experts believe that there are a number of reasons why this is the case.
‘We believe there are a few reasons why the virus has this effect.
‘We know that with an Ebola infection there are what we call protected sites in the body where the immune system is unable to remove the virus, from the brain for example. This continued infection can cause neurological damage.
‘In terms of post viral syndrome the evidence for the effects of Ebola, is much stronger than say long covid,’ says Professor Paul Hunter, a virus expert at the University of East Anglia.
‘The other challenge with Ebola is that during the infection you suffer a series of small bleeds in the brain, not dissimilar to a mini stroke, which will have long term consequences.
‘And then of course there is the psychological explanation. Being that close to death will have a serious impact on the brain.’
Ebola killed 11,000 people in West Africa between 2014 and 2016. However, unlike that 2014 to 2016 outbreak, this crisis is caused by the Bundibugyo virus and unlike more common strains, there is no licensed vaccine to help contain it.
Symptoms remain the same across all Ebola variants, starting with a flu-like fever, headache, muscle pain, vomiting and diarrhoea before progressing to internal bleeding, organ failure and death.
The origin of the Bundibugyo variant is unknown but some researchers believe it was passed onto humans via fruit bats.
Scientists at Oxford University are racing to develop a Bundibugyo vaccine, but warn that it will take two to three months before the jab can be tested on humans, meaning it is unlikely patients in Africa will get the drug within the next six months.
A successful vaccine would likely protect patients from severe illness and death as well as limit the spread of the virus.
However, there is also no guarantee that the experimental jab will be effective.
Experts say that the Bundibugyo isn’t new but it is rare. The variant was first recorded in 2007 and takes its name from the area of western Uganda where it was spotted.
It then arose for a second time in the DRC in 2012. However, both outbreaks were limited in size – with just over 200 combined confirmed and probable cases and around 66 deaths.
It is thought to spread through direct contact with the blood or bodily fluids of a person who is sick or has died from the virus, or through contact with contaminated surfaces.
However, patients can carry the virus for up to 21 days before symptoms begin, which is when experts believe they become infectious.
The current outbreak was declared an international health emergency by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on May 17 after cases were detected in both the DRC and Uganda.
Ten other nearby countries are considered at risk by the African Union’s primary public health agency, while the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned on Friday that the outbreak could spread to be similar in scale to the worst in history.
In its latest statement published on X, Congo’s government said the number of confirmed Ebola cases had increased to 598, including 115 deaths.
