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SARS-CoV-2 in Conjunctiva and Tears and Ocular Symptoms of Patients with COVID-19

This study investigates the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in conjunctival secretions and tears and evaluates ocular symptoms in a group of patients with COVID-19. We included 56 hospitalized patients with COVID-19 in this cross-sectional cohort study. Conjunctival secretions and tears were collected using...

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Autores principales: Rodríguez-Ares, Teresa, Lamas-Francis, David, Treviño, Mercedes, Navarro, Daniel, Cea, María, López-Valladares, María Jesús, Martínez, Laura, Gude, Francisco, Touriño, Rosario
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8544743/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34698308
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/vision5040051
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author Rodríguez-Ares, Teresa
Lamas-Francis, David
Treviño, Mercedes
Navarro, Daniel
Cea, María
López-Valladares, María Jesús
Martínez, Laura
Gude, Francisco
Touriño, Rosario
author_facet Rodríguez-Ares, Teresa
Lamas-Francis, David
Treviño, Mercedes
Navarro, Daniel
Cea, María
López-Valladares, María Jesús
Martínez, Laura
Gude, Francisco
Touriño, Rosario
author_sort Rodríguez-Ares, Teresa
collection PubMed
description This study investigates the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in conjunctival secretions and tears and evaluates ocular symptoms in a group of patients with COVID-19. We included 56 hospitalized patients with COVID-19 in this cross-sectional cohort study. Conjunctival secretions and tears were collected using flocked swabs and Schirmer strips for SARS-CoV-2 reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Assessment of ocular surface manifestations included an OSDI (Ocular Surface Disease Index) questionnaire. Patients had been admitted to hospital for an average of 2.4 days (range 0–7) and had shown general symptoms for an average of 7.1 days (range 1–20) prior to ocular testing. Four (7.1%) of 56 conjunctival swabs and four (4%) of 112 Schirmer strips were positive for SARS-CoV-2. The mean E-gene cycle threshold values (Ct values) were 31.2 (SD 5.0) in conjunctival swabs and 32.9 (SD 2.7) in left eye Schirmer strips. Overall, 17 (30%) patients presented ocular symptoms. No association was found between positive ocular samples and ocular symptoms. This study shows that SARS-CoV-2 can be detected on the conjunctiva and tears of patients with COVID-19. Contact with the ocular surface may transmit the virus and preventive measures should be taken in this direction.
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spelling pubmed-85447432021-10-26 SARS-CoV-2 in Conjunctiva and Tears and Ocular Symptoms of Patients with COVID-19 Rodríguez-Ares, Teresa Lamas-Francis, David Treviño, Mercedes Navarro, Daniel Cea, María López-Valladares, María Jesús Martínez, Laura Gude, Francisco Touriño, Rosario Vision (Basel) Communication This study investigates the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in conjunctival secretions and tears and evaluates ocular symptoms in a group of patients with COVID-19. We included 56 hospitalized patients with COVID-19 in this cross-sectional cohort study. Conjunctival secretions and tears were collected using flocked swabs and Schirmer strips for SARS-CoV-2 reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Assessment of ocular surface manifestations included an OSDI (Ocular Surface Disease Index) questionnaire. Patients had been admitted to hospital for an average of 2.4 days (range 0–7) and had shown general symptoms for an average of 7.1 days (range 1–20) prior to ocular testing. Four (7.1%) of 56 conjunctival swabs and four (4%) of 112 Schirmer strips were positive for SARS-CoV-2. The mean E-gene cycle threshold values (Ct values) were 31.2 (SD 5.0) in conjunctival swabs and 32.9 (SD 2.7) in left eye Schirmer strips. Overall, 17 (30%) patients presented ocular symptoms. No association was found between positive ocular samples and ocular symptoms. This study shows that SARS-CoV-2 can be detected on the conjunctiva and tears of patients with COVID-19. Contact with the ocular surface may transmit the virus and preventive measures should be taken in this direction. MDPI 2021-10-22 /pmc/articles/PMC8544743/ /pubmed/34698308 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/vision5040051 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Communication
Rodríguez-Ares, Teresa
Lamas-Francis, David
Treviño, Mercedes
Navarro, Daniel
Cea, María
López-Valladares, María Jesús
Martínez, Laura
Gude, Francisco
Touriño, Rosario
SARS-CoV-2 in Conjunctiva and Tears and Ocular Symptoms of Patients with COVID-19
title SARS-CoV-2 in Conjunctiva and Tears and Ocular Symptoms of Patients with COVID-19
title_full SARS-CoV-2 in Conjunctiva and Tears and Ocular Symptoms of Patients with COVID-19
title_fullStr SARS-CoV-2 in Conjunctiva and Tears and Ocular Symptoms of Patients with COVID-19
title_full_unstemmed SARS-CoV-2 in Conjunctiva and Tears and Ocular Symptoms of Patients with COVID-19
title_short SARS-CoV-2 in Conjunctiva and Tears and Ocular Symptoms of Patients with COVID-19
title_sort sars-cov-2 in conjunctiva and tears and ocular symptoms of patients with covid-19
topic Communication
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8544743/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34698308
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/vision5040051
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