Ebola Virus Disease News Update 2015: Survivors Still Suffering With Chronic Conditions
It has been a year since the World Health Organization declared Ebola an international health emergency, and still, the survivors are greatly suffering from the aftermath. The hefty number of West Africans who were infected with Ebola virus but survived it are now suffering chronic conditions like serious joint pain and eye inflammation that can lead to blindness.
It has been reported that over 11,000 people died during the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and affected 13,000 people that did not die from the virus in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. Nearly 2,000 people are currently being actively monitored in Sierra Leone and Guinea.
Daniel Bausch of the WHO's clinical care team on Ebola survivors stated that about half of all those survived from the virus infection now report joint pain, with some suffering such severe effects which hinders them from working.
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The survivors are also suffering with eye problems like inflammation, impaired vision and the most severe one, blindness. Bausch said that about 25 percent of survivors are going through it, reported The News Nigeria. There are also reports of serious long-term problems like depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and social exclusion. WHO experts stated that their health is becoming "an emergency within an emergency."
"The world has never seen such a large number of survivors from an Ebola outbreak," said Anders Nordstrom, a WHO representative in Sierra Leone who took part in a five-day conference this week about Ebola survivors.
According to Morning Ticker, Nordstrom also said that at this point it is of high need that an international conference is arranged in order to learn more about the survivors and their post-Ebola issues. In line with this, professionals like scientists and health workers came together in Sierra Leone to talk more about advances in clinical care, research and the gathering of biological samples for use in further studies.
