Medical Hypothesis, Discovery & Innovation in Ophthalmology

Abstract

Background: The novel coronavirus pneumonia has attracted considerable attention from the international community. With the spread of outbreaks around the world, the WHO characterized COVID-19 as a pandemic.

Methods: Relevant studies in PubMed were searched from January 1, 2020 to April 12, 2020, using the following search strategy: (“novel coronavirus pneumonia” OR “severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2” OR “coronavirus disease 2019” OR “COVID-19” OR “novel coronavirus pneumonia”) AND (“ophthalmology” OR “ophthalmologist” OR “eye” OR “conjunctiva” OR “conjunctivitis” OR “corneal” OR “keratitis”).

Results: SARS-CoV-2 can spread through aerosol and is detected in tears of patients with COVID-19 infection. Notably, some infected patients had conjunctivitis, and conjunctivitis was the first symptom in some patients later diagnosed to have COVID-19 infection. This would increase the risk for ophthalmologists through inpatient consultations or regular clinical practice. When dealing with seemingly regular ophthalmic patients, the vigilance of ophthalmologists and associated staff tends to be reduced.

Conclusion: Ophthalmologists must continuously update their knowledge regarding COVID-19 and take effective measures to prevent COVID-19 transmission.