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Review
. 2020;2(7):859-864.
doi: 10.1007/s42399-020-00360-7. Epub 2020 Jun 19.

Conjunctivitis as a Sentinel of SARS-CoV-2 Infection: a Need of Revision for Mild Symptoms

Alexios A Panoutsopoulos  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Conjunctivitis as a Sentinel of SARS-CoV-2 Infection: a Need of Revision for Mild Symptoms

Alexios A Panoutsopoulos. SN Compr Clin Med. 2020.

Abstract

COVID-19 has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11, and since then, more than 3 million cases and a quarter million deaths have occurred due to it. Lately, there is a growing evidence for an ophthalmologic symptom (conjunctivitis) to be connected with the disease. This seems to happen in early stages of the infection by SARS-CoV-2, and thus, it is of major importance to understand the mechanism through which the virus can facilitate such a symptom. Here, we are proposing a molecular mechanism through which the novel coronavirus could act in order to affect the eye and use it as another, secondary but alternative, point of entry to the host organism.

Keywords: ACE2; COVID-19; Conjunctivitis; ECM proteins; HSPG; Molecular ophthalmology; Ophthalmology; Pandemic; Picornavirus; Pink eye; SARS-CoV-2.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of InterestThe author declares that there are no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
SARS-CoV-2 viruses find the ACE2 receptor on corneal epithelium cells via the help of HSPG receptors in the eye’s ECM
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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