Open AccessAssessment of Coronavirus in the Conjunctival Tears in Pediatric Patients with Asymptomatic COVID-19 Infection in Sohag Government, Egypt
Author(s) -
Hala R. Mahmoud,
Ahmed Farouk Radwan,
Amr El Rashidy,
Hesham M Hefny,
Amal Ali,
Amr Mounir
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
the open ophtalmology journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.67
H-Index - 19
ISSN - 1874-3641
DOI - 10.2174/1874364102115010083
Subject(s) - asymptomatic , medicine , tears , covid-19 , coronavirus , pediatrics , surgery , virology , disease , infectious disease (medical specialty) , outbreak
Objective: The present study aims to evaluate coronavirus shedding in the tears of asymptomatic pediatric COVID-19 positive patients. Methods: A prospective interventional study that included a total of 145 pediatric asymptomatic COVID-19 patients hospitalized from 17 th May 2020 to 16 th July 2020 in Sohag Tropical Hospital. On admission, all of them were COVID-19 positive detected through nasopharyngeal swab. They were in intimate contact with positive symptomatic COVID-19 patients before testing and admission. Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was done for tears samples at an interval of 5 days after admission and twice before discharge. Results: Of the 145 asymptomatic pediatric COVID-19 positive patients, no one showed ocular or systemic manifestations. They were silent carriers. Ten were positive for tears sample on admission. They became negative for nasopharyngeal and tear samples before discharge. Conclusion: Pediatric positive COVID-19 patients can shed coronavirus through their tears. Even among asymptomatic patients, transmission through tears is possible.