• Valeria Mocanu, Dharmesh Bhagwani, Abhinav Sharma, Claudia Borza, Ciprian Ilie Rosca, Morariu Stelian, Shalini Bhagwani, Laura Haidar, Lajwanti Kshtriya, Nilima Rajpal Kundnani, Florin-Raul Horhat, and Raluca Horhat.
• Department of Ophthalmology, EYE-ENT Senzory-Tumoral Research Centre, Victor Babeș University of Medicine and Pharmacy Timisoara, Timisoara, Romania.
• Med Princ Pract. 2022 Jan 1; 31 (1): 66-73.

ObjectivesCOVID-19 has varied clinical manifestations, from asymptomatic to severe cases, and conjunctivitis is one of them, but sometimes a lone initial symptom is found to be present. The aim of this study was to identify the prevalence of conjunctivitis as the first symptom in COVID-19 patients in a primary healthcare unit.MethodologyA retrospective study was conducted, analyzing the presenting complains/symptoms and results of COVID-19-confirmatory tests.ResultsOut of the 672 cases that were sent for RT-PCR testing, only 121 (18%) were found to be positive. Among these, 2.67% patients had both conjunctivitis and COVID-19, 77.77% patients had unilateral eye affected, while 22.22% had bilateral conjunctivitis of varying degrees. Fifteen patients diagnosed to have both acute conjunctivitis and COVID-19 presented other symptoms associated with COVID-19 infection. Three patients had only acute conjunctivitis during their entire course of COVID-19.ConclusionsConjunctivitis is a symptom of COVID-19 and may be the first sign of the infection, until the onset of the classical manifestations; such patients may continue to be a viral reservoir. Physicians should not miss unilateral conjunctivitis as it can be the only presenting complaint of COVID-19 during the initial phase, which might worsen if undetected and can aid in the spread of the contagion.© 2022 The Author(s). Published by S. Karger AG, Basel.

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