Evaluation of Nasopharyngeal and Conjunctival Swab Samples of Hospitalised Patients with Confirmed COVID-19

Purpose To evaluate the results of conjunctival and nasopharyngeal swab tests in patients with confirmed COVID-19. Methods This prospective study included 45 patients who were hospitalized for confirmed COVID-19. Nasopharyngeal swab samples were obtained from the patients before hospitalization. Only one eye of each patient was randomly selected for-conjunctival sampling. All participants underwent a complete slit-lamp examination. Conjunctival and nasopharyngeal swab samples were analyzed by reversetranscriptase-polymerase-chain reaction (RT-PCR). Results Twenty seven (60%) of the patients were male and 18 (40%) were female. Conjunctival swab was positive in only one (2.22%) patient. None of the COVID-19 patients showed ocular changes and symptoms. There were no abnormalities of the ocular surface, anterior chamber or posterior segment at slit-lamp examination. Conclusions The RT-PCR was not high positive in the conjunctiva as in nasopharyngeal swabs. Ocular changes were not common in COVID-19 patients.

Automated summary

The study found that the positivity rate of conjunctival swab in COVID-19 patients was low, and ocular changes and symptoms were not common.