It is said that 16 percent of participants affected by Covid-19 admitted to experiencing eye pain.
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, TANGERANG – Knowledge related to Covid-19 and the symptoms that appear for sufferers continues to be studied by experts. Most recently, a research scientist at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) in the UK shows that sore eyes could be one of the new symptoms of Covid-19.
The study, published in the journal BMJ Open Ophthalmology, found that 16 percent of participants who contracted Covid-19 admitted to experiencing eye pain. Meanwhile, only five percent of them had experienced the condition before being diagnosed with Covid-19.
Another finding showed that out of 83 respondents, about 81 percent of them reported eye problems within two weeks of other Covid-19 symptoms. And 80 percent of participants reported having eye problems that lasted less than two weeks.
On the other hand, as many as 18 percent of people reported suffering from photophobia or light sensitivity as a symptom. And that condition has increased by five percent from the state before Covid-19. The most common symptoms reported overall were fatigue (suffered by 90 percent of respondents), fever (76 percent), and dry cough (66 percent).
“This is the first study investigating various eye symptoms that indicate conjunctivitis in relation to Covid-19,” said study leader Professor Shahina Pardhan of the Vision and Eye Research Institute at ARU, reported by // Science Daily, Thursday.
Conjunctivitis is known to be an inflammation or infection of the transparent membrane (conjunctiva) that lines the eyelids and covers the whites of the eyeball. When the small blood vessels in the conjunctiva are inflamed, they are more visible and this is what causes the whites of the eyes to appear red. Usually this problem is characterized by red eyes accompanied by itching and watery eyes.
“While it is important that eye symptoms be included in the list of possible Covid-19 symptoms, we believe that eye pain should replace ‘conjunctivitis’ because it is important to differentiate it from the symptoms of other types of infection. Such as bacterial infection, which manifests as mucous or gritty discharge,” said Phardan.
This study, continued Phardan, is important because it helps scientists understand more about how Covid-19 can infect the conjunctiva. Then allow the virus to spread throughout the body.
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