Prevalence of somatic symptoms among Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) survivors in Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis 2024 Mandizadza et al

Interesting to read, although inconsistent approaches in the various studies make the meta-analysis of limited utility.

In the discussion of possible causes, viral persistence and a 'hit and run' phenomenon caused by the immune reaction are included.
It is noted that there are no controls, and that other infections/conditions might account for the symptoms.

That point about Ebola survivors from wealthy countries quickly making complete recoveries - I'm not sure that is true. Around a quarter of African Ebola survivors are reporting fatigue 2 years after the infection. I don't how many people from non-African wealthy countries have survived Ebola, but I think we could expect to see some with residual symptoms. If there aren't, then that is interesting.

Long Covid gets a mention; oddly, ME/CFS does not.

Only one of the included studies separated out results by sex. Many of the studies included paediatric patients, and none of the studies reported results by age group. This paper recommends that future studies improve on reporting by age and sex.

Reading between the lines, selection criteria in the studies were often not clear. There may have been biases that increased the estimate of residual symptom incidence.

 

Answering my own question, see this:
From bedside to patient: An Ebola survivor's odyssey, 2015
about a US doctor who had Ebola.

He was extremely sick, and had strokes that may of course account for lingering symptoms. He also had proven viral persistence. But, it is also very clear that he had many symptoms that are similar to ME/CFS.

Some excerpts from the article:

"Ian Crozier, MD, is a walking laboratory for Ebola and a living testament to the damaging, long-term consequences of the disease, which are still very poorly understood.

He was among the sickest of patients to survive the disease and continues to suffer from a variety of disturbing consequences, including eye problems, hearing loss with tinnitus, short-term memory loss, seizures and sleep dysregulation, he said. He wryly cautioned his audience that he was approaching his “hour of narcolepsy” as he started his late- afternoon talk.

Moreover, earlier in October, a Scottish nurse who was declared cured of Ebola 10 months ago suffered a relapse and remains in “serious but stable” condition at the Royal Free Hospital in London, according to news reports.

Like other survivors, he had residual after effects, pain (including severe joint and muscle aches), as well as problems sleeping. Two or three weeks after discharge, he suddenly lost the hearing in his left ear, and has also developed a high-pitched ringing in his ears that persists today.

Two months after discharge, he developed left eye pain and blurred vision. Last December, his doctors at the Emory Eye Center sampled the fluid inside the eye and found billions of copies of the virus teeming there.

While his vision is not completely back to normal, much of it has returned.

Crozier said he still suffers from some neurologic complications, including short-term memory loss and some word-finding difficulty, particularly when his brain gets distracted by anxiety or fever, for example. Given how far he has come, “I have a new respect for the neuroplasticity of the brain,” he said. A few months ago, he experienced an epileptic seizure and is now taking an anti-epileptic medication.

He’s not yet officially back to work, but has been focusing on ways to evaluate and provide care to West African survivors, as well as engage the scientific questions emerging in his case and in those of many other survivors. He highlighted the urgent need to pay attention to the survivor’s predicament, which includes severe physical and emotional and psychological consequences, as well as a tragic stigma and social ostracism for many in West Africa."