ArticleThe ocular surface2021
Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in human post-mortem ocular tissues.
Article in The ocular surface, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 69 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
69 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 114 citations in OpenAlex.
- Comprehensive insights into COVID-19 vaccine-associated multiple evanescent white dot syndrome (MEWDS): A systematic analysis of reported cases.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2024Pooled it
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- A pan-beta-coronavirus vaccine bearing conserved and asymptomatic B- and T-cell epitopes protects against highly pathogenic Delta and highly transmissible Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variants.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2025Article
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- Cornea Oculomics: A Clinical Blueprint for Extending Corneal Diagnostics and Artificial Intelligence in Systemic Health Insights.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- SARS-CoV-2 positivity rates in tear secretions of inpatient COVID-positive individuals in an Indian tertiary care setting.Indian journal of ophthalmology · 2025Article
- Case series on 2 cases of macular damage caused by the novel coronavirus: A case report.Medicine · 2025Article
- Clinical characteristics and viral colonization of corneal donors with coronavirus disease 2019: a comprehensive analysis before and after corneal transplantation.Annals of medicine · 2024Article
- Productive infection of the retinal pigment epithelium by SARS-CoV-2: Initial effects and consideration of long-term consequences.PNAS nexus · 2024Article
- Ocular Implications of COVID-19 Infection and Vaccine-Related Adverse Events.Journal of personalized medicine · 2024Review
- Conditional reprogrammed human limbal epithelial cell model for anti-SARS-CoV-2 drug screening.Heliyon · 2024Article
- Corneal Stroma Analysis and Related Ocular Manifestations in Recovered COVID-19 Patients.Investigative ophthalmology & visual science · 2024Article
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- Multimodal Imaging in Diagnosing Multiple Evanescent White Dot Syndrome following Human Papillomavirus Vaccine Immunization.Case reports in ophthalmological medicine · 2024Article
- Detection of infectious SARS-CoV-2 in ocular samples is linked to viral load in the nasopharynx.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2024Article
- Viral infections and pathogenesis of glaucoma: a comprehensive review.Clinical microbiology reviews · 2023Review
- Review
- Vaccine-Associated Uveitis after COVID-19 Vaccination: Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System Database Analysis.Ophthalmology · 2023Article
- SARS-CoV-2 cellular tropism and direct multiorgan failure in COVID-19 patients: Bioinformatic predictions, experimental observations, and open questions.Cell biology international · 2023Review
- In vitro infection of human ocular tissues by SARS-CoV-2 lineage A isolates.BMC ophthalmology · 2022Article
9 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Update of
Authors and funding
10 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundSARS-CoV-2 is found in conjunctival swabs and tears of COVID-19 patients. However, the presence of SARS-CoV-2 has not been detected in the human eye to date. We undertook this study to analyze the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in human post-mortem ocular tissues.
methodsThe expression of SARS-CoV-2 RNA was assessed by RT-PCR in corneal and scleral tissues from 33 surgical-intended donors who were eliminated from a surgical use per Eye Bank Association of America (EBAA) donor screening guidelines or medical director review or positive COVID-19 test. Ocular levels of SARS-CoV-2 RNA (RT-PCR), Envelope and Spike proteins (immunohistochemistry) and anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG and IgM antibodies (ELISA) in blood were evaluated in additional 10 research-intent COVID-19 positive donors.
findingsOf 132 ocular tissues from 33 surgical-intended donors, the positivity rate for SARS-CoV-2 RNA was ~13% (17/132). Of 10 COVID-19 donors, six had PCR positive post-mortem nasopharyngeal swabs whereas eight exhibited positive post-mortem anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG levels. Among 20 eyes recovered from 10 COVID-19 donors: three conjunctival, one anterior corneal, five posterior corneal, and three vitreous swabs tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA. SARS-CoV-2 spike and envelope proteins were detected in epithelial layer of the corneas that were procured without Povidone-Iodine (PVP-I) disinfection. INTERPRETATIONS: Our study showed a small but noteworthy prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in ocular tissues from COVID-19 donors. These findings underscore the criticality of donor screening guidelines, post-mortem nasopharyngeal PCR testing and PVP-I disinfection protocol to eliminate any tissue harboring SARS-CoV-2 being used for corneal transplantation.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.