Department of General Ophthalmology, Medical University of Lublin, 20-079 Lublin, Poland.
Faculty of Medical Sciences, Collegium Medicum, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University, 01-815 Warsaw, Poland.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Mar 12;18(6):2916. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18062916.
The coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 responsible for the current human COVID-19 pandemic has shown tropism toward different organs with variable efficiency, eyes included. The purpose of this study has been to investigate the presence of detectable SARS-CoV-2 infection in ocular swabs in patients affected by COVID-19. A consecutive series of 74 COVID-19-positive patients (age 21-89) were enrolled at two Polish COVID-19 hospitals for 4 months and were characterized by PCR for the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 genetic material in nasopharyngeal (NP) and ocular swabs, while their respiratory and ocular symptoms were noted. Almost 50% of them presented with severe/critical respiratory involvement, and some degree of eye disease. No tight correlation was observed between the presence of ocular and respiratory symptoms. Three male patients presenting with severe/critical lung disease tested positive in ocular swab, however with mild/moderate ocular symptoms. In conclusion, our study lends further support to the view that overt ocular infection by the SARS-CoV-2 virus is not such a frequent occurrence.
导致当前人类 COVID-19 大流行的冠状病毒 SARS-CoV-2 显示出对不同器官的亲和力，眼部也包括在内。本研究的目的是调查在 COVID-19 患者的眼部拭子中是否存在可检测到的 SARS-CoV-2 感染。在波兰的两家 COVID-19 医院连续招募了 74 名 COVID-19 阳性患者（年龄 21-89 岁），并通过 PCR 检测鼻咽（NP）和眼部拭子中 SARS-CoV-2 遗传物质的存在，同时记录他们的呼吸道和眼部症状。他们中近 50%的人表现出严重/危急的呼吸道受累，以及某种程度的眼部疾病。眼部和呼吸道症状之间没有观察到紧密的相关性。3 名患有严重/危急肺部疾病的男性患者在眼部拭子中检测出阳性，但眼部症状较轻/中度。总之，我们的研究进一步支持了这样一种观点，即 SARS-CoV-2 病毒引起的明显眼部感染并不是那么常见。
