Case Report: A Re-Positive Case of SARS-CoV-2 Associated With Glaucoma

Zhou, Xiaoli; Zhou, Ya-Na; Ali, Ashaq; Liang, Cuiqin; Ye, Zhiqin; Chen, Xiaomin; Zhang, Qing; Deng, Lihua; Sun, Xinyi; Zhang, Qian; Luo, Jihong; Li, Wei; Zhou, Kun; Cao, Shanshan; Zhang, Xiaowei; Li, Xiao-Dong; Zhang, Xian-En; Cui, Zongqiang; Men, Dong

The current pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has already become a global threat to the human population. Infection with SARS-CoV-2 leads to a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations. Ocular abnormalities have been reported in association with COVID-19, but the nature of the impairments was not specified. Here, we report a case of a female patient diagnosed with glaucoma on re-hospitalization for ocular complications two months after being discharged from the hospital upon recovery from COVID-19. Meanwhile, the patient was found re-positive for SARS-CoV-2 in the upper respiratory tract. The infection was also diagnosed in the aqueous humor through immunostaining with antibodies against the N protein and S protein of SARS-CoV-2. Considering the eye is an immune-privileged site, we speculate that SARS-CoV-2 survived in the eye and resulted in the patient testing re-positive for SARS-CoV-2.