Coronavirus found in woman's eye after nasal swabs no longer detected it, report says

[babylonsister]

https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/coronavirus/article242271706.html

Coronavirus found in woman’s eye after nasal swabs no longer detected it, report says
By Summer Lin
April 24, 2020 04:33 PM, Updated 4 hours 14 minutes ago


Italy’s first coronavirus patient tested positive for COVID-19 in her eye days after it was undetectable in her nose, according to a new report.

The 65-year-old woman arrived in Italy from Wuhan on Jan. 23 and was admitted to the hospital a week later with a cough, stuffy nose, sore throat and pink eye, the report said.

Doctors took swabs from her eyes and found she had coronavirus in her eye, the report said. They continued to collect swabs and her pink eye cleared up by the 20th day. There were traces of the virus in her eye until her 21st day at the hospital, and it showed up again on the 27th day, after it had already been undetectable in her nasal swabs.

“We found that ocular fluids from SARS-CoV-2-infected patients may contain infectious virus, and hence may be a potential source of infection,” the authors of the report wrote. “These findings highlight the importance of control measures, such as avoiding touching the nose, mouth, and eyes and frequent hand washing.”

[OAITW r.2.0]

1. Seems like a natural place for a virus to survive. Plenty of moisture and a stable low heat

enviroment to exist in.

[at140]

2. Exactly why I can't understand why people feel safe just wearing face mask

You also need well fitting goggles which prevent airborne stuff getting in your eyes.
If some one coughs or sneezes within 6-10 feet of you, the droplets containing covid-19 cells can float straight into your eyes, even while wearing a N-95 mask..

[0rganism]

3. i'm wearing my mask for you

i don't have an N95 mask -- those should go to medical professionals of which i am not one
meanwhile, my mask protects you and your mask protects me

[LiberalArkie]

4. That is why it will be hard to get Americans to wear masks, they don't think of the other person

only themselves. Wearing a mask to protect another person from yourself is counterintuitive.

[at140]

6. You are mostly correct

in that your mask reduces virus laden droplets from being spewed airborne. But some virus cells can escape most masks and become airborne.
And your face mask does protect you a little bit by stopping some of the airborne virus floating around by getting trapped in your mask.

My only point was there have been innumerable posts positing protective value of good masks.
The glaring problem even with the N-95 mask is that if your eyes are not covered up airtight, the virus gets in to the eyes.

The virus in the eyes is the main topic in this thread, right?

[Dem2]

7. It also occured to me

So I wore some safety glasses I have that have built in magnifiers so I can read labels when shopping. They aren't airtight, but from what I read they will deflect particles around my eyes which will likely end up behind me.

[at140]

8. You are doing the right thing!

My goggles were just delivered today, and goggles do not need to be 100% airtight.
If goggles protect 95% of airborne virus, it is all good.

NOTHING is airtight, the goggles would have to be glued with crazy glue to your face to make them 99.999% air tight.
And masks can not be 100% air tight otherwise you will suffocate.

So do wear your goggles, with or without regular eye glasses. It does add another layer of protection.

[GusBob]

5. Conjunctivitis is a secondary finding in the disease

There are maybe a dozen more. Loss of smell to bruises on your toes. The virus has different ramifications for different people