Eyes are the Perfect Shelter for Ebola and Other Viruses

A specific cell in the retina, the light-sensitive part of the eyes responsible for sending visual information to the brain, appears to be particularly good at housing Ebola and other viruses, new research published in the journal Frontiers in Virology has found. A highly infectious and lethal viral disease, Ebola, was first observed in 1976 and has since impacted thousands of humans and animals. It started primarily in Central Africa and by 2014 spread to Sierre Leone, Liberia and Nigeria, which was by far the largest outbreak.

Inflammation of the eye, known as uveitis, is very common following infection with Ebola and it is known that cells within the iris, at the front of the eye, as well as the retina can play a major role in uveitis and act as hosts for microorganisms.

What Does Ebola Virus do to the Eyes?

However, it is still unknown which one out of the two was most responsible in the case of Ebola. To find that, Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness used cells from human eyes donated from the SA Eye Bank to investigate the ability of the iris and retinal pigment epithelial cells to be infected by Ebola.

Cells were infected with Ebola virus, Reston virus (a type of Ebola virus that does not cause disease in humans) and Zika virus (another type of virus, but one that also can cause uveitis), while some were left uninfected for the duration of the trial.

While both types of cells seemed to allow the Ebola virus to replicate, it was the retinal cells that showed much higher levels of infection. They also found similar results when looking at the cells infected with Reston and Zika viruses.

These retinal cells are good at eating particles, a process called phagocytosis, play an essential part in the visual cycle by recycling the photoreceptors, so it makes sense that these cells would be a receptive haven for Ebola, as well as other viruses.

Among other issues, including pain and blurred vision, uveitis can ultimately lead to vision loss, so it’s important to find ways to diagnose it as early as possible to enable swift treatment.

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Source-Medindia