Coronavirus: conjunctivitis could be a new symptom
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As we know, the symptoms of the coronavirus are similar to those of the flu, and are characterized by fever, cough, and breathing difficulties. Another rarer sign could also be associated with the disease: conjunctivitis.
The list of symptoms associated with the coronavirus continues to grow. And for good reason, the suggestive signs of Covid-19, such as loss of taste and smell, fever, cough, or body aches, are not the only ones that may be associated with the disease. Among the new manifestations identified, we find conjunctivitis. The coronavirus could cause this inflammation of the eye, and be transmitted by contact of the aerosol with the conjunctiva, the lining that lines the inside of the eyelids, according to a statement from the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
Conjunctivitis: the coronavirus found in eye secretions
These statements are based on two recent published studies on the subject. The first, published in the Journal of Medical Virology, was conducted on 30 hospitalized Covid-19 patients in China. One of them had conjunctivitis and doctors found traces of the virus in the eye fluid. The second, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, was carried out in 1,009 Chinese patients affected by the coronavirus: 9 of them suffered from conjunctivitis.
"Patients who visit their ophthalmologist with conjunctivitis, who also have fever and respiratory symptoms, such as cough and shortness of breath, and who have recently traveled abroad, particularly to areas particularly affected by the coronavirus (China, Iran, Italy, Japan and South Korea), or whose relatives who recently returned from one of these countries could be infected with Covid-19, "specifies the statement from the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
If this symptom remains rare, the Professional Medical Association of Ophthalmologists still recommends that healthcare professionals protect not only their mouth and nose, but also their eyes when caring for patients potentially affected by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.
Covid-19: new symptoms identified
The coronavirus is showing more and more atypical signs. A study carried out by a team of doctors from Chicago (United States) and published in The American Journal of Emergency Medicine, added a new symptom of the disease to those already known. This is a persistent hiccup. A new manifestation was also observed in men. The latter would be testicular pain, according to a publication in The American Journal of Emergency Medicine. Another symptom of coronavirus infection is phantosmia. It involves smelling often unpleasant odors that do not exist.
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