• Meng-Jou Chen, Kao-Jung Chang, Chih-Chien Hsu, Pei-Yu Lin, and Jui-Ling LiuCatherineCDepartment of Ophthalmology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.Faculty of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC..
• Department of Ophthalmology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
• J Chin Med Assoc. 2020 Jul 1; 83 (7): 648650648-650.

AbstractAlthough current studies suggested that conjunctivitis is not a common presentation of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), several studies have reported the presence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) in ocular secretions. Coronavirus had not yet been successfully cultured from tears or conjunctival swabs in humans, neither SARS-CoV-2 nor SARS-CoV. However, live feline coronavirus has been isolated from conjunctival swabs. In addition, infection of COVID-19 through unprotected eye exposure had been suspected in several articles. Reports of ophthalmologists and otolaryngologists died of COVID-19 also raised concern on ocular transmission. As a result, we strongly suggest that personal protective equipment (PPE) should cover the mouth, nose, and eyes of ophthalmologists, especially when conjunctivitis caused by SARS-CoV-2 is clinically indistinguishable from other viral follicular conjunctivitis.

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