SARS-CoV-2 Not Detectable in Ocular Specimens of a Patient with a Past Infection.

Purpose: To present a a case study that aims to investigate the presence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in the ocular tissue samples of a patient previously infected with COVID-19 and determine its transmissibility.Study Design: Case ReportResults: In this case study, SARS-CoV-2 was not detected in the vitreous and uveal tissue samples by RT-PCR for detection of three gene targets in a patient with a past COVID-19 infection 15 days prior to presention with a globe rupture.Conclusions: Our findings suggest that patients with long-term existence of SARS-CoV-2 at low detectable levels may not have active intraocular viral shedding. This is of particular importance as ophthalmic surgical procedures may potentiate virus spread from patients infected with SARS-CoV-2.

Bilateral Acute Anterior Uveitis and Corneal Punctate Epitheliopathy in Children Diagnosed with Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome Secondary to COVID-19.

Purpose: To report bilateral anterior uveitis and corneal punctate epitheliopathy in children with multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C) secondary to coronavirus disease (COVID-19).Participants and methods: Five patients who were positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antibodies and diagnosed with MIS-C were evaluated. Ophthalmologic examinations were performed in order to reveal ocular findings in MIS-C disease.Results: Slit lamp examinations showed bilateral non-granulomatous acute anterior uveitis in all patients and severe corneal punctuate epitheliopathy in three of the patients. These ocular findings mostly disappeared with treatment in about one week.Conclusion: Bilateral non-granulomatous acute anterior uveitis and dry eye can be detected in patients diagnosed with MIS-C secondary to COVID-19. Even if generally, COVID-19 is not a life threatening disease in children by itself, inflammatory ocular manifestations can be detected in MIS-C secondary to COVID-19.

Illuminating uveitis: metagenomic deep sequencing identifies common and rare pathogens.

BACKGROUND: Ocular infections remain a major cause of blindness and morbidity worldwide. While prognosis is dependent on the timing and accuracy of diagnosis, the etiology remains elusive in ~50 % of presumed infectious uveitis cases. The objective of this study is to determine if unbiased metagenomic deep sequencing (MDS) can accurately detect pathogens in intraocular fluid samples of patients with uveitis. METHODS: This is a proof-of-concept study, in which intraocular fluid samples were obtained from five subjects with known diagnoses, and one subject with bilateral chronic uveitis without a known etiology. Samples were subjected to MDS, and results were compared with those from conventional diagnostic tests. Pathogens were identified using a rapid computational pipeline to analyze the non-host sequences obtained from MDS. RESULTS: Unbiased MDS of intraocular fluid produced results concordant with known diagnoses in subjects with (n = 4) and without (n = 1) uveitis. Samples positive for Cryptococcus neoformans, Toxoplasma gondii, and herpes simplex virus 1 as tested by a Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments-certified laboratory were correctly identified with MDS. Rubella virus was identified in one case of chronic bilateral idiopathic uveitis. The subject's strain was most closely related to a German rubella virus strain isolated in 1992, one year before he developed a fever and rash while living in Germany. The pattern and the number of viral identified mutations present in the patient's strain were consistent with long-term viral replication in the eye. CONCLUSIONS: MDS can identify fungi, parasites, and DNA and RNA viruses in minute volumes of intraocular fluid samples. The identification of chronic intraocular rubella virus infection highlights the eye's role as a long-term pathogen reservoir, which has implications for virus eradication and emerging global epidemics.

Intraocular viral replication after systemic murine cytomegalovirus infection requires immunosuppression.

PURPOSE: Human cytomegalovirus retinitis is the most common blinding complication of acquired immune deficiency syndrome. However, the pathogenesis of the disease is poorly understood. The authors sought to characterize intraocular viral replication after systemic murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) infection in the normal and immunosuppressed Balb/c mouse. METHODS: Normal or immunosuppressed mice (400 rads radiation plus antilymphocyte serum) were infected intravenously with a recombinant MCMV (RM408) that carries an MCMV IE1 promoter--LacZ insert. In vivo MCMV replication and its tissue distribution were monitored by beta-gal activity with x-gal staining on frozen tissue sections of multiple organs harvested from infected mice at different time points after inoculation. RESULTS: MCMV replication within the eye can be detected in the immunosuppressed Balb/c mouse but not in the normal host. Intraocular viral replication was noted first, and most frequently, in the ciliary body and was mainly restricted to the uveal tract. Intraocular viral replication coincided with the peak of systemic viral replication; however, the neurosensory retina was spared. In contrast, supraciliary inoculation of MCMV in the immunosuppressed Balb/c mouse resulted in massive viral replication and destruction of the neurosensory retina. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that intraocular MCMV replication after systemic infection requires systemic immunosuppression. Furthermore, the ciliary body is the portal of entry for the virus within the eye. MCMV can replicate in the epithelium of the uvea and retinal pigment epithelium, but it does not replicate within the neurosensory retina. The absence of MCMV replication within the neurosensory retina is not caused by either a defect in the recombinant virus or the inability of the host tissue to support viral replication.