Occurrence of SARS-CoV-2 in the intraocular milieu

Wolfgang List; Peter Regitnig; Karl Kashofer; Gregor Gorkiewicz; Martin Zacharias; Andreas Wedrich; Laura Posch-Pertl

doi:10.1016/j.exer.2020.108273

Occurrence of SARS-CoV-2 in the intraocular milieu

Exp Eye Res. 2020 Dec:201:108273. doi: 10.1016/j.exer.2020.108273. Epub 2020 Sep 28.

Authors

Wolfgang List¹, Peter Regitnig², Karl Kashofer², Gregor Gorkiewicz², Martin Zacharias², Andreas Wedrich³, Laura Posch-Pertl³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Ophthalmology, Medical University of Graz Auenbruggerplatz 4, 8036, Graz, Austria. Electronic address: wolfgang.list@medunigraz.at.
² Diagnostic and Research Institute of Pathology, Medical University of Graz Neue Stiftingtalstraße 6, 8010, Graz, Austria.
³ Department of Ophthalmology, Medical University of Graz Auenbruggerplatz 4, 8036, Graz, Austria.

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to study the intraocular occurrence of SARS-CoV-2. In postmortem examinations, aqueous humor and the vitreous samples were collected. All individuals were previously positive in nasopharyngeal swabbing and cause of death was respiratory failure due to SARS-CoV-2 infection. Testing was done using quantitative RT-PCR. We included 16 aqueous humor and 16 vitreous samples for PCR testing. None of the results was positive for SARS-CoV-2. Human GAPDH genes to verify the presence of RNA was present in all aqueous humor samples (16/16, 100%) and 15/16 (93.8%) vitreous samples. In conclusion, this case series found no evidence of SARS-CoV-2 in the intraocular milieu.

Keywords: Aqueous humor; Intraocular milieu; SARS-CoV-2; Vitreous body.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Aqueous Humor / virology*
COVID-19 / diagnosis*
COVID-19 / epidemiology
COVID-19 / virology
COVID-19 Testing / methods*
Humans
RNA, Viral / analysis*
SARS-CoV-2 / genetics*
Vitreous Body / virology*

Substances

RNA, Viral