Coronavirus stayed in woman's eyes for 20 days
By: Team Ifairer | Posted: 22-04-2020
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The authors noted that conjunctivitis "has been occasionally reported among COVID-19 symptoms, similar to infections caused by other human coronaviruses." For instance, eye fluids were linked with a higher chance of healthcare workers catching the germ which causes SARS, also a member of the large coronavirus family of viruses, during that epidemic almost two decades ago. Studies which have emerged from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic cited by the authors also suggest the eye can carry the coronavirus.
Dr. Joshua Barocas, assistant professor of Medicine at the Boston University School of Medicine and infectious diseases physician at Boston Medical Center who did not work on the case study, previously explained to Newsweek that conjunctivitis is common in those with upper respiratory illnesses.
That's because our eyes, ears, nose, throat, and lungs are connected "so viruses (even common ones) can cause a constellation of symptoms in those locations," he said. At the time, he said: "As of now, we do not know enough to say that it is completely consistent with COVID-19 infection though it could certainly be a symptom."