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Indian J Ophthalmol Presence of Viral RNA of SARS-CoV-2 in Conjunctival Swab Specimens of COVID-19 Patients

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  • Indian J Ophthalmol Presence of Viral RNA of SARS-CoV-2 in Conjunctival Swab Specimens of COVID-19 Patients


    Indian J Ophthalmol


    . 2020 Jun;68(6):1015-1017.
    doi: 10.4103/ijo.IJO_1287_20.
    Presence of Viral RNA of SARS-CoV-2 in Conjunctival Swab Specimens of COVID-19 Patients


    Kiran Kumar 1 , Akshata A Prakash 1 , Suresh Babu Gangasagara 1 , Sujatha B L Rathod 1 , K Ravi 2 , Ambica Rangaiah 3 , Sathyanarayan Muthur Shankar 3 , Shantala Gowdara Basawarajappa 3 , Shashi Bhushan 4 , T G Neeraja 1 , Srinivas Khandenahalli 1 , M Swetha 1 , Priyam Gupta 1 , U C Sampritha 1 , Guru N S Prasad 1 , Chakravarthy Raghunathan Jayanthi 5



    Affiliations

    Abstract

    Purpose: To detect the presence of viral RNA of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) in conjunctival swab specimens of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) patients.
    Methods: Forty-five COVID-19 patients positive for real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for SARS-CoV-2 in nasopharyngeal swab with or without ocular manifestations were included in the study. The conjunctival swab of each patient was collected by an ophthalmologist posted for COVID duty.
    Results: Out of 45 patients, 35 (77.77%) were males and the rest were females. The mean age was 31.26 ? 12.81 years. None of the patients had any ocular manifestations. One (2.23%) out of 45 patients was positive for RT-PCR SARS-CoV-2 in the conjunctival swab.
    Conclusion: This study shows that SARS-CoV-2 can be detected in conjunctival swabs of confirmed cases of COVID-19 patients. Though the positivity rate of detecting SARS-CoV-2 in conjunctival swabs is very less, care should be exercised during the ocular examination of patients of COVID-19.

    Keywords: Conjunctival swab; SARS-CoV-2; coronavirus disease-19; nasopharyngeal swab.

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