Coronavirus can live in the eye, studies say

Eye issues are not listed as a coronavirus symptom on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control website.

By Aaron Sull, World Israel News

In addition to fever and breathing difficulties, conjunctivitis may be a symptom of coronavirus, recent studies have found.

In a study published last month in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers found “conjunctival congestion” in nine out of 1,099 confirmed coronavirus patients across 30 Chinese hospitals.

A study published in JAMA Ophthalmology in March discovered conjunctivitis in two out of 38 coronavirus patients hospitalized in a Chinese hospital.

Two patients out of 72 confirmed coronavirus patients hospitalized between Jan 17 and 28 at China’s Tongji Medical College exhibited conjunctivitis, according to a February study published in Zhang et al.

What causes coronavirus to spread to the eye has not been thoroughly researched yet, but the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) does suggest it can happen through aerosol transfer to the eye, for example, if a coronavirus patient coughs or sneezes within six feet of someone who isn’t wearing any protective eyewear.

In addition, touching one’s eyes after coming into contact with coronavirus droplets on surfaces may result in catching the virus, according to AAO.

In an interview with CNN last month, a nurse at Life Care Center in Kirkland, Washington, said most of her coronavirus patients had pink eye.

“It’s something that I witnessed in all of them (the patients),” Chelsey Earnest told the news outlet. “They have, like allergy eyes. The white part of the eye is not red. It’s more like they have red eye shadow on the outside of their eyes.”

“We’ve had patients that just had the red eyes as the only symptom that we saw and go to the hospital and pass away,” she added.

Eye issues are not listed as a coronavirus symptom on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control website.