{
  "abstract": "Introduction The 2013–2016 Western African outbreak of the Ebola virus disease (EVD), the largest recorded outbreak since the discovery of Ebola virus (EBOV) in 1976, destabilised local health systems and left thousands of survivors at risk for postacute sequelae, including vision-threatening uveitis. In an EVD survivor with severe panuveitis, the detection of persistent EBOV in the aqueous humour, long after clearance of acute viremia, focused clinical and research attention on the host-EBOV interaction in the unique terrain of ocular immune privilege. Despite the recognition that uveitis is common and consequential in EVD survivors, our understanding of pathogenesis is extremely limited, including the contributions of viral persistence and ocular-specific and systemic immune responses to disease expression. In this study protocol, we outline a multifaceted approach to characterise EVD-associated intraocular inflammation, including the clinical phenotype and complications; the presence of EBOV (or EBOV RNA/antigen) in ocular fluids and tissues; and associated local ocular-specific and peripheral immune responses.Methods and analysis We use an observational cohort design, which includes EVD survivors and close contacts of EVD survivors (ie, no documented history of EVD), and we propose disease (clinical examination and imaging), as well as molecular, virologic and immunologic characterisation, to meet research objectives.Ethics and dissemination This study has received Institutional Review Board approval from University of Nebraska Medical Centre, Emory University and Sierra Leone Ministry of Health. Findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications.",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Nebraska Medical Centre College of Medicine, Omaha, Nebraska, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Caleb D Hartley"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA",
        "Emory Vaccine Centre, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Susanne Linderman"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Nebraska Medical Centre College of Medicine, Omaha, Nebraska, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Tolulope Fashina"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Emory University Rollins School of Public Health, Atlanta, Georgia, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Laura Ward"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "College of Public Health, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Carolyn Drews-Botsch"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Biosurv International, Salisbury, England, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Catherine Pratt"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Sanjana Kuthyar"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Alcides Filho Fernandes"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Ophthalmology, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Ye Huang"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Nebraska Medical Centre College of Medicine, Omaha, Nebraska, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Charlene Choo"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Nebraska Medical Centre College of Medicine, Omaha, Nebraska, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Nam Nguyen"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Division of Infectious Diseases, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Jessica Carag"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Division of Infectious Diseases, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Jill Morgan"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Division of Infectious Diseases, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Colleen S Kraft"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Centre College of Medicine, Omaha, Nebraska, USA",
        "Global Centre for Health Security, University of Nebraska Medical Centre, Omaha, Nebraska, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Angela Hewlett"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Global Centre for Health Security, University of Nebraska Medical Centre, Omaha, Nebraska, USA",
        "Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Centre, Omaha, Nebraska, USA",
        "Department of Epidemiology, University of Nebraska Medical Centre College of Public Health, Omaha, Nebraska, USA"
      ],
      "name": "David Brett-Major"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA"
      ],
      "name": "John S Schieffelin"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Robert F Garry"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Kenema Government Hospital Lassa Hemorrhagic Fever Lab, Kenema, Sierra Leone"
      ],
      "name": "Donald Grant"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Walter Reed Army Medical Centre, Washington, District of Columbia, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Grant A Justin"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Nebraska Medical Centre College of Medicine, Omaha, Nebraska, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Christopher D Conrady"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Justine R Smith"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Nebraska Medical Centre College of Medicine, Omaha, Nebraska, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Brent R Hayek"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "University College London, London, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Shiama Balendra"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "F.I. Proctor Foundation, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Nisha Acharya"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "F.I. Proctor Foundation, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Thuy Doan"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland"
      ],
      "name": "Anais Legand"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland"
      ],
      "name": "Pierre Formenty"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, Frederick, Maryland, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Xiankun Zeng"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Ministry of Health, Freetown, Sierra Leone"
      ],
      "name": "Ibrahim Conteh"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Ministry of Health, Freetown, Sierra Leone"
      ],
      "name": "Matthew Jusu Vandy"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Ministry of Health, Freetown, Sierra Leone"
      ],
      "name": "Lloyd Harrison-Williams"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Ministry of Health, Freetown, Sierra Leone"
      ],
      "name": "Jalikatu Mustapha"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Ministry of Health, Freetown, Sierra Leone"
      ],
      "name": "Zikan Koroma"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Pathology and Microbiology, University of Nebraska Medical Centre, Omaha, Nebraska, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Michael R Wiley"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Clinical Monitoring Research Programme Directorate, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Frederick, Maryland, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Ian Crozier"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Jean-Claude Mwanza"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "F.I. Proctor Foundation, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Jessica G Shantha"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Emory Vaccine Centre, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Rafi Ahmed"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Nebraska Medical Centre College of Medicine, Omaha, Nebraska, USA",
        "Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA",
        "Global Centre for Health Security, University of Nebraska Medical Centre, Omaha, Nebraska, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Steven Yeh"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [],
      "name": "SMILE and EVICT-VR Investigator Study Groups"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Understanding the pathogenesis of uveitis in Ebola virus disease survivors: an observational cohort and cross-sectional study protocol for clinical, molecular virologic and immunologic characterisation",
  "uid": "42d9de6d-aaa2-55d3-b250-d682a336572c"
}