Ophthalmology Consultation Plan in the Context of 2019-nCoV

Frontiers in Medicine

article

Shuang Song¹  Yidan Chen¹  Ying Han²  Feng Wang¹  Ying Su¹ 

[1] Department of Ophthalmology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University;Department of Geriatric, The First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University

关键词: SARS-CoV-2;    ophthalmology;    consultation;    transmission;    guidelines;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fmed.2021.618599

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Since December 2019, new coronavirus pneumonia (2019-nCoV) has been spread globally. At first it concentrated outbreak in China, and now reported all over the world, particularly in America and Europe (1, 2). 2019-nCoV is a new virus that everyone can be infected and was labeled as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) (3). A study in Wuhan reported of 535 patients, 27 patients (5.0%) presented with conjunctival congestion and 4 patients had conjunctival congestion as the initial symptom (4). Besides, a recent paper found that Several infected cases presented firstly with conjunctivitis before the onset of pneumonia, implying that the ocular route might be the potential transmission route of SARS-CoV-2 virus under certain conditions (5). An effective barrier protecting the eye is of paramount importance because the droplets and body fluids have a high probability to get onto the conjunctiva surface (6). Hence safety goggles identified to reduce ocular transmission but ophthalmologists need to close contact with the patients (conjunctival, tear secretions and aerosol secretions) during the fundus examination and other operations, so Ophthalmologists are a high-risk category (7, 8). For large medical centers their daily outpatient clinic and emergency lists have a high patient volume, which also increases the risk of cross-transmission between medical staff and patients (7, 8).

【 授权许可】

CC BY