Covid-19: dry or irritated eyes among the symptoms

This sign is visible! Cough, fever, loss of taste or smell already mark a possible infection with the coronavirus. But dry, irritated eyes can also be a symptom of Covid-19. That’s what a study published in the BMJ Ophthalmology which was carried out from the observation of sore eyes in many patients.

People who tested positive for the disease were questioned by questionnaire about their symptoms by researchers from Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) in Cambridge in Great Britain. And 81% of them reported eye problems – irritation, dry eyes – in the weeks following the appearance of other symptoms linked to Covid-19. Disorders that would have lasted on average less than two weeks. Some patients even mentioned the presence of photophobia – extreme sensitivity of the eyes to light – but most indicated that this visual disorder only increased very significantly compared to what it was before the disease.

The infection could start in the eyes

“This is the first study that shows ocular symptoms indicative of conjunctivitis in relation to Covid-19 and their duration, including in relation to other known signs such as fatigue, fever, cough or loss of consciousness. taste,” says the study’s lead author, Sahina Pardhan, director of the Institute for Vision and Eye Research at ARU.

But beyond yet another symptom of the disease of the new coronavirus, this study confirms that the infection can indeed start with the eyes and then spread throughout the body. “We argue that painful eyes should replace conjunctivitis to characterize an infection with SARS-CoV-2”, underlines Sahina Pardhan.

As early as last April, a possible link between dry or irritated eyes and Covid-19 was highlighted in a study published in the Journal of Medical Virology. DPatients with conjunctivitis had traces of the virus in tear fluid and conjunctival fluid. Following this study, the American Academy of Ophthalmology recommended screening for Covid-19 for people with conjunctivitis.