Case Report: A Re-Positive Case of SARS-CoV-2 Associated With Glaucoma

• Main Authors: Xiaoli Zhou, Ya-Na Zhou, Ashaq Ali, Cuiqin Liang, Zhiqin Ye, Xiaomin Chen, Qing Zhang, Lihua Deng, Xinyi Sun, Qian Zhang, Jihong Luo, Wei Li, Kun Zhou, Shanshan Cao, Xiaowei Zhang, Xiao-Dong Li, Xian-En Zhang, Zongqiang Cui, Dong Men
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-07-01
• Series: Frontiers in Immunology
• Subjects: aqueous humor; COVID-19; glaucoma; immunostaining; SARS-CoV-2
• Online Access: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2021.701295/full

The current pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has already become a global threat to the human population. Infection with SARS-CoV-2 leads to a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations. Ocular abnormalities have been reported in association with COVID-19, but the nature of the impairments was not specified. Here, we report a case of a female patient diagnosed with glaucoma on re-hospitalization for ocular complications two months after being discharged from the hospital upon recovery from COVID-19. Meanwhile, the patient was found re-positive for SARS-CoV-2 in the upper respiratory tract. The infection was also diagnosed in the aqueous humor through immunostaining with antibodies against the N protein and S protein of SARS-CoV-2. Considering the eye is an immune-privileged site, we speculate that SARS-CoV-2 survived in the eye and resulted in the patient testing re-positive for SARS-CoV-2.