Presence of viral RNA of SARS-CoV-2 in conjunctival swab specimens of COVID-19 patients

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

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.