Absence of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus-2 RNA in Human Corneal Tissues.
Cornea
; 40(3): 342-347, 2021 Mar 01.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1066449
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE:
To examine corneal tissue for severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) positivity regarding implications for tissue procurement, processing, corneal transplantation, and ocular surgery on healthy patients. We performed quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction qRT-PCR-testing for SARS-CoV-2 RNA on corneal stroma and endothelium, bulbar conjunctiva, conjunctival fluid swabs, anterior chamber fluid, and corneal epithelium of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) postmortem donors.METHODS:
Included in this study were 10 bulbi of 5 COVID-19 patients who died because of respiratory insufficiency. Informed consent and institutional review board approval was obtained before this study (241/2020BO2). SARS-CoV-2 was detected by using a pharyngeal swab and bronchoalveolar lavage. Tissue procurement and tissue preparation were performed with personal protective equipment (PPE) and the necessary protective measures. qRT-PCR-testing was performed for each of the abovementioned tissues and intraocular fluids.RESULTS:
The qRT-PCRs yielded no viral RNA in the following ocular tissues and intraocular fluid corneal stroma and endothelium, bulbar-limbal conjunctiva, conjunctival fluid swabs, anterior chamber fluid, and corneal epithelium.CONCLUSIONS:
In this study, no SARS-CoV-2-RNA was detected in conjunctiva, anterior chamber fluid, and corneal tissues (endothelium, stroma, and epithelium) of COVID-19 donors. This implicates that the risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection using corneal or conjunctival tissue is very low. However, further studies on a higher number of COVID-19 patients are necessary to confirm these results. This might be of high importance for donor tissue procurement, processing, and corneal transplantation.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Aqueous Humor
/
RNA, Viral
/
Eye Infections, Viral
/
Conjunctiva
/
Cornea
/
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Diagnostic study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Language:
English
Journal:
Cornea
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
ICO.0000000000002479
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