Abstract
Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in tears of patients with and without ocular symptoms in SARS-CoV-2 positive patients.
Methods: The prospective observational study conducted on 60 consecutive SARS-CoV-2 positive patients with ocular complaints was compared with 60 controls who had no ocular manifestations. The tear samples were taken within 48 h of admission from both the eyes of the enrolled patients for evaluating the presence SARS-CoV-2 by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction.
Results: Eleven cases (18.33%) tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in tears on RT-PCR from cojunctival swab compared to 10 (16.66%) controls. The difference was not statistical significant. The difference between mean age of patients who tested positive or negative was also without statistical significance (P = 0.652), but the difference between patients who tested positive or negative by conjunctival swab for SARS-CoV-2 was statistically significant in terms of severity of COVID-19 disease (P = 0.0011), presence of comorbidity (P = 0.0015), mean TLC (P = 0.00498), and mean d dimer (P = 0.00465).
Conclusion: Though the percentage of patients with positive RT PCR from conjunctival secretions is significantly less than nasopharyngeal swabs, potential risk of transmission of SARS-Co-2 through tears cannot be ruled out. Moreover, SARS-CoV-2 can be present in tears irrespective of ocular involvement.
Keywords: Conjunctival secretions; RT PCR; S-CoV-2; SAR; ocular manifestations.
【저자키워드】 SAR, RT PCR, Conjunctival secretions, S-CoV-2, ocular manifestations, 【초록키워드】 SARS-CoV-2, prospective observational study, Comorbidity, Transmission, Symptom, RT-PCR, PCR, nasopharyngeal swabs, severity of COVID-19, Patient, Control, Manifestations, age, Swab, eye, disease, Admission, statistical significance, potential risk, positive, SARS-CoV-2 positive patients, conjunctival, ocular, Conjunctival secretion, controls, statistical, enrolled, tested, evaluate, significantly, conducted, less, had no, statistically significant, SARS-CoV-2 positive patient, 【제목키워드】 Swab, manifestation, conjunctival, ocular, polymerase chain, SARS-CoV-2 patient,