Retinal Vasculitis Following COVID-19 Vaccination: Causation or Coincidence?

BACKGROUND: With the popularity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination, some rare ocular adverse events have gradually been reported. This report shows a rare case of retinal vasculitis following COVID-19 vaccination. DESCRIPTION: A 37-year-old male complained of unilateral severe vision loss 13 days after the first dose of an inactivated COVID-19 vaccine. The initial eye examination showed gray-white edema in the macula, and scattered patchy gray-white lesions in the peripheral retina, accompanied by peripheral retinal small vessel occlusion. After glucocorticoid treatment, the gray-white lesions gradually subsided. However, due to the initial severe damage in the fundus, macular and peripheral retinal lesions were significantly atrophied, and the vision recovery was poor. CONCLUSION: The ocular adverse event in this report may be related to the inactivated COVID-19 vaccination, however, it is difficult to rule out the accidental rare adverse events after a large number of vaccinations.

Positive Rate of Serology and RT-PCR for COVID-19 among Community Residents and Healthcare Workers in Wuhan, China.

This study aimed to evaluate the infection rate of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) among different populations in Wuhan, China. This cross-sectional survey-based study examined the results of SARS-CoV-2-specific serological tests and RT-PCR tests for 4,454 community residents and 4,614 healthcare workers performed from May 15 to May 29, 2020. The healthcare workers were classified as administrative and logistical staff (n = 1,378), non-first-line healthcare workers (n = 2,630), or first-line healthcare workers (n = 606) according to their frequency of contact with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients. The positive rates of SARS-CoV-2-specific IgG, IgM, and RNA were 2.9%, 0.4%, and 0.1% for the community residents and 3.3%, 0.6%, and 0.2% for the healthcare workers, respectively. There were no statistically significant differences between the rates of the two groups. Spearman's correlation analysis showed that the frequency of contact with COVID-19 patients negatively correlated with the positive rates of RT-PCR (rs = -0.036, P = 0.016), but did not significantly correlate with the positive rates of IgM (rs = -0.006, P = 0.698) or IgG (rs = 0.017, P = 0.239). There was no statistically significant difference between the SARS-CoV-2-specific IgG, IgM, or RNA positive rates of the community residents and those of the healthcare workers. The positive rate of SARS-CoV-2 RNA was lower for the first-line healthcare workers than for the non-first-line healthcare workers and the administrative and logistical staff.

Ultrasound Imaging Findings of Acute Testicular Infection in Patients With Coronavirus Disease 2019: A Single-Center-Based Study in Wuhan, China.

OBJECTIVES: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has become a global pandemic, raising widespread public health concerns. Our team treated hospitalized patients with COVID-19 in Wuhan, where the outbreak first began, and we suspected that SARS-CoV-2 may cause testicular infection in male patients. We conducted this study to explore that observation. METHODS: We enrolled male patients with a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 and performed a bedside ultrasound (US) examination of the scrotum, focused on findings of acute inflammation such as tunica albuginea thickening, enlargement and heterogeneous echogenicity of the testis, epididymis, or both, an abscess, scrotal wall edema, and hydrocele. Then we compared the proportions of observed epididymo-orchitis in patients from different age groups and COVID-19 severity groups. RESULTS: A total of 142 patients with COVID-19 were enrolled in our study, and 32 (22.5%) patients had acute orchitis, epididymitis, or epididymo-orchitis on scrotal US imaging, according to the diagnosis criteria. The observed risk of acute scrotal infection increased with age, with the incidence reaching 53.3% in men older than 80 years. We also observed that men with severe COVID-19 had a significantly higher possibility of epididymo-orchitis compared to the nonsevere COVID-19 group (P = .037). CONCLUSIONS: This study shows US imaging evidence that SARS-CoV-2 may cause infection of the testis or epididymis, and the risk is worthy of the attention of clinicians.