EBOV-RNA test with RT-PCR in ocular fluids of Ebola survivors can help to safely perform cataract surgery

Since the Ebola virus (EBOV) was discovered in 1976, the recent 2014−2016 Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in West Africa was the largest with 28,600 cases and about 11,300 deaths. This epidemic started in Guinea and spread rapidly across the borders in Sierra Leone and Liberia (1). After an incubation period of 2 to 21 days EBOV manifests clinically as a hemorrhagic fever that can lead to death by hypovolemic shock and multisystem failure generally within a month of infection. Human-to-human transmission of EBOV occurs by direct contact (through cutaneous or mucosal lesions) with blood, secretions, organs or other body fluids of infected persons, and by indirect contact with environments contaminated with such fluids.