ISLAMABAD -new symptom for the coronavirus revealed by research study bythe ophthalmologists who have warned that conjunctivitis, or commonlycalled as pink eye, could be one of the symptoms of Coronavirus in additionto dry cough, flu, and breathing difficulty.
Several studies have recently been published that claim that SARS-CoV-2,the Coronavirus that causes COVID-19 disease, could be transmitted toconjunctiva through aerosol or hand contact, resulting in conjunctivitis,either during as an early sign of infection or during hospitalization forCOVID-19.
Conjunctiva is a clear, thin membrane that covers part of the front surfaceof the eye and the inner surface of eyelids.
A recently published study in the Journal of Medical Virologylink investigatesthe presence of SARS-COV-2 in the eyes of patients tested positive forCOVID-19.
Out of every 30 patients admitted in a hospital for COVID-19 treatment inChina, 1 had conjunctivitis. SARS-COV-2 RNA was found in tears andconjunctival secretions of the 1 patient with pink eye.
The researchers conclude that SARS-COV-2 infects conjunctiva which leads toconjunctivitis, or pink eye.
Another study published in the New England Journal of Medicinelink, which assessedclinical characteristics of COVID-19 patients, states that SARS-COV-2causes conjunctivitis.
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During the study, researchers evaluated 1,099 patients of COVID-19receiving treatment in 30 different hospitals across China. Out of those, 9patients (0.8%) had conjunctiva.
Although a small number of COVID-19 patients had conjunctiva in this study,researchers found that none of the 9 patients ever had a prior history ofany sort of eye infection, implying that these patients developed thedisease after contracting SARS-COV-2.
Another study published on March 31 in JAMA Ophthalmologylinkfurthercorroborates that conjunctiva could be caused by SARS-COV-2. 12 out of 38COVID-19 patients in Hubei, China, assessed during this study also hadconjunctiva.
Besides studies, a Washington-based nurselinkhassaid that most of the elderly patients of the COVID-19 she has tended tosince the outbreak have pink eye apart from persistent dry cough and rapidbreathing. It is also important to note that Washington is the first USstate which reported the country’s first case of COVID-19 on 21 January.
