ABSTRACT
Aim: COVID-19, caused by SARS-CoV-2, started in December 2019 and has spread across the world. Materials & methods: We analyzed real-time PCR results of 10,000 samples from 2 April to 30 May 2020 in three neighbor cities located in the East of Turkey. The final study population was 7853 cases, after excluding screening tests. Results: Real-time PCR was performed to detect the SARS-CoV-2-specific RNA-dependent-RNA-polymerase gene fragment. The number of total positive samples out of 7853 were 487; however, the number of nonrepeating positive patient was 373 (4.8%). Cough and fever were the most common symptoms in positive cases. Conclusion: Epidemiologic studies should be performed about the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection to better understand the effect of the virus across the world.
Subject(s)
COVID-19/diagnosis , COVID-19/epidemiology , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , COVID-19/physiopathology , COVID-19/virology , COVID-19 Testing , Child , Child, Preschool , Cough/epidemiology , Cough/virology , Female , Fever/epidemiology , Fever/virology , Humans , Infant , Infant, Newborn , Male , Middle Aged , Prevalence , Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction , SARS-CoV-2/genetics , SARS-CoV-2/isolation & purification , Turkey/epidemiology , Young AdultABSTRACT
PURPOSE: To assess the effect of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 infection on the conjunctiva and tear film. METHODS: Thirty-eight patients with confirmed COVID-19 and 31 healthy controls were included in this prospective and observational study. Individuals with COVID-19 formed the patient group, and healthy individuals formed the control group. Conjunctival impression cytology (CIC), TBUT, Schirmer II test, and ocular surface disease index were evaluated in all participants. RESULTS: No significant difference was observed regarding the mean age and gender between the groups (P=0.786 and P=0.122, respectively). The mean TBUT and Schirmer II test results did not differ between the two groups (P=0.496 and P=0.447, respectively). The CIC results revealed decreased density and cell size of goblet cells and moderate to high enlargement, squamous changes, and increased nucleocytoplasmic ratio in nongoblet epithelial cells in the COVID-19 group compared with the control group. Based on the Nelson classification in CIC samples, 60.6% of the COVID-19 group and 19.4% of the control group had changes consistent with grade 2 or above. The presence of neutrophils in CIC was significantly higher in the COVID-19 group (P<0.001), whereas the presence of lymphocyte was similar between the two groups (P=0.247). CONCLUSION: This study revealed the pathological conjunctival alterations in patients with COVID-19 and demonstrated that pathological ocular surface alterations may present even at the beginning of COVID-19 without clinically significant ocular manifestation.