To find the clinical profile and prevalence of conjunctivitis and other ocular manifestations in mild COVID-19 positive patients in a nodal COVID-19 hospital.
A retrospective cross-sectional, single-center study conducted in 127 mild cases of COVID-19 positive patients admitted between 27
March and 19
April 2020 in a tertiary care COVID-19 hospital in north India. From the hospital records, demographic data is collected. Ocular history and ocular examinations were done by face-to-face survey during ward rounds.
A total of 127 patients were included in the study with a median age of 38.8 years. Forty-eight (37.80%) patients had upper respiratory tract symptoms, 20 (15.75%) patients had systemic illness, 18 (14.17%) patients were using spectacles, and 50 (39.37%) patients had history of hand-eye contact. Out of 12 (9.45%) patients who had ocular complaints, 11 (8.66%) had ocular manifestation after admission. Among 11 patients, eight (6.29%) had conjunctival congestion. Three (3/8) patients had developed conjunctival congestion even before the manifestation of definite COVID-19 symptoms. Five patients (5/8) patients had no other associated ocular symptoms other than congestion. Didox Six patients (6/8) had symptoms of upper respiratory tract infection.
Mild conjunctivitis manifesting as conjunctival congestion is common and is one of the major ocular manifestations in COVID-19 positive patients even with milder disease.
Mild conjunctivitis manifesting as conjunctival congestion is common and is one of the major ocular manifestations in COVID-19 positive patients even with milder disease.
To evaluate the effect of COVID-19 pandemic and national lockdown on patient care at a tertiary-care ophthalmology institute.
Records of all the patients who presented from March 25
to May 3
, 2020 were scanned to evaluate the details regarding the presenting complaints, diagnosis, advised treatment and surgical interventions.
The number of outpatient department visits, retinal laser procedures, intravitreal injections and cataract surgeries during this lockdown decreased by 96.5%, 96.5%, 98.7% and 99.7% respectively compared from the corresponding time last year. Around 38.8% patients could be triaged as non-emergency cases based on history alone while 59.5% patients could be triaged as non-emergency cases after examination. Only eighty-four patients opted for video-consultation from April 15
to May 3
, 2020. Nine patients presented with perforated corneal ulcer, but could not undergo penetrating keratoplasty due to the lack to available donor corneal tissue. One of these patients had to undergo nts need to be encouraged to follow-up via video-consultation to carve adequate in-person time for the high-risk patients.The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruption in everyone's lives globally. Optometrists, being primary health care professionals are at a higher risk of infection in their practices during these testing times. Optometrists and optical store owners need practically implementable guidelines as lockdown gets lifted in various parts of our country. As these practices gear up to provide eye examination and vision correction to people, they need to take necessary precautions to avoid any cross contaminations. Optometry Council of India guidelines were circulated among optometry and optical associations and among experts in various optometry specialty. A consensus among various bodies were arrived. These guidelines provide recommendation for optical and optometry practices.The aim of this review article is to summarize the available literature on physiologic and pathologic ocular changes during pregnancy and the effect of diseases in pregnancy. A literature search was conducted using PUBMED, MEDLINE, and Cochrane library in English. In addition, the cited references in the published articles were manually reviewed for the relevant results. Pregnancy encompasses a multitude of changes in all body systems, including the visual system of the female. The changes can be physiological, i.e., changes occurring in the lids and adnexa, cornea, conjunctiva, changes in tear film composition and intraocular pressure, retina, choroid, and visual field. Pathological changes in a pregnant woman's eye include changes related to preeclampsia and eclampsia, central serous chorioretinopathy, retinal artery or vein occlusions, and disseminated intravascular coagulation. Preexisting diseases like diabetic retinopathy, Graves' disease, idiopathic intracranial hypertension, various inflammatory conditions can undergo changes in their course during pregnancy. Ophthalmic medications can have an effect on both mother and the baby and hence should be used cautiously. In addition, intrauterine infections play a major role in causing inflammation in the eye of the baby. Hence, vaccination of the mother prior to pregnancy plays an important role in preventing intrauterine infections in the neonate. A regular eye examination in the perinatal period plays a vital role in recognizing ophthalmic pathologies which might require a prompt medical intervention. Pathological ocular diseases should be discriminated from physiologic changes to establish an individualized treatment or preventive plan. This approach to ocular benefits of treatment to the mother should always weigh against the potential harm to the fetus.Asthenopic and related symptoms are a major problem in school-going children. With the inception of computers and other gadgets for near work, the unseen problems arising out of constant and continuous near work, are on the rise. Parents wander from pillar to post, seeking respite from their child's constant complaints from near work; but despite best spectacle correction and avoidance of excessive near work, the complaints continue. Studies have shown that the majority of these problems arise from defects in accommodation, even in a young child. Therefore, various aspects of accommodation deficiencies have to be studied clinically, detected, and treated to ameliorate the symptoms.SNARE proteins are essential for exocytosis, mediating the fusion of vesicles with their target membrane. Tethering factors play a key role in chaperoning SNARE assembly; however, the underlying molecular mechanisms are not well-understood. Here, Travis et al. report two crystal structures of a yeast tethering factor, the Dsl1 complex, bound with two SNARE proteins, revealing new insights into how tethering factors bridge vesicles to target membranes, recruit multiple SNARE proteins, trigger their conformational changes, and facilitate SNARE assembly.Didox
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