Every day it seems like some or the other symptom of COVID-19 comes to light. This is primarily because COVID-19 is a relatively new or novel disease and research on which is still underway.
According to a latest set of research, getting a pink eye, or conjunctivitis can be a symptom of Coronavirus.
Presently, the World Health Organization (WHO) advocates three common symptoms of Coronavirus, namely, dry cough, fever and tiredness. Less common symptoms include runny nose, sore throat, body ache and even diarrhoea or breathing difficulty. While these symptoms are common with the flu, symptoms though COVID-19 can be more deadly.
Recently the British Rhinological Society and of ENT UK had suggested that loss of smell can be another symptom of the novel disease. To add to this, the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery said that even loss of taste could be a symptom of COVID-19.
And now the latest of the lot is the symptom of having the pink eye or conjunctivitis. Conjunctivitis is generally presented as redness, swelling or watering of the eyes.
Conducted in China and including 38 patients, this study was recently published in JAMA Ophthalmology on March 31.
Of all the participants, 12 showed the symptoms of conjunctivitis and 11 of the 12 also tested positive for COVID-19 through nose swab method. And of these two, two had tested through nose and eye swabs both.
This study has found that this condition is the most common in the most severe cases and also raises questions about whether tears can spread or shed COVID-19?