By looking at search trends, Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, a former data scientist at Google, found there had been a spike in people looking for information on eye pain in the previous two weeks. These were "almost exclusively" in areas with high coronavirus rates, he wrote in an opinion piece in the New York Times. Areas include New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, which have all been severely impacted by the pandemic.

How the eyes are affected by COVID-19 is being investigated. There is some research to suggest conjunctivitis is a symptom of the new coronavirus. In a report looking at the ocular characteristics of the disease published in JAMA Ophthalmology, researchers from China looked at 38 patients, 12 of who had some changes to their eyes while also diagnosed with COVID-19. Problems included the eyes being excessively watery, conjunctival congestion, and swelling of the tissue lining eyelids and surface of the eye. These symptoms were often found in people with more severe manifestations of the disease.

A nurse treating COVID-19 patients also said many of the people whose health had been impacted hardest appeared to have red eyes. Chelsey Earnest of the Life Care Center, Washington, told CNN: "It's something that I witnessed in all of [the patients]. They have, like ... allergy eyes. The white part of the eye is not red. It's more like they have red eye shadow on the outside of their eyes."

It is thought pink eye is a symptom of coronavirus in between 1 and 3 percent of patients. In a study of over 1,000 COVID-19 patients in China published in the NEJM, researchers found "conjunctival congestion" was present in around 0.8 percent of patients.


Stephens-Davidowitz said eye pain has not had a huge amount of attention as a potential symptom of coronavirus. Compared with searches for pink eye, there was a far greater correlation between COVID-19 cases and eye pain. "In fact, all eye-related complaints except pain that I looked at show little-to-no relationship with COVID-19 rates," he wrote.

"There is also some evidence for eye pain as a symptom of COVID-19 from searches in other parts of the world. Notably, searches for eye pain rose above fourfold in Spain between the middle of February and the middle of March and rose about 50 percent in Iran in March," he wrote. "In Italy, searches for "bruciore occhi" ("burning eyes") were five times their usual levels in March."

Stephens-Davidowitz said the searches for eye pain do not appear to be the result of allergies, as there is no relationship with pollen concentrations. He added the increased screen time from being at home more also does not appear to be involved in the search data. "I think search data offers suggestive evidence that eye pain can be a symptom of the disease," he wrote, adding that searches for eye pain are still far lower than for other symptoms of COVID-19, such as loss of smell.

"Nonetheless, doctors and public health officials should probably look closely at the relationship between COVID-19 and eye pain. If nothing else, we need to understand why there is frequently a large uptick in people telling Google that their eyes hurt when known cases of COVID-19 in a location rise to extremely high levels."

There is evidence to suggest coronavirus can spread via the eyes, with the World Health Organization and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention both advising people avoid touching their eyes with unwashed hands. A study due to appear in the journal Ophthalmology found there was a low risk of the virus being spread via tears. However, as the American Association of Ophthalmology (AAO) notes: "There is also evidence for SARS-CoV-2 [the virus that causes COVID-19] RNA in tears of COVID-19 patients with conjunctivitis, although infectious virus has not yet been cultured from the conjunctiva of any COVID-19 patient."

Advice issued by the AAO eye pain appears to be a "less specific" symptom of coronavirus. It said ophthalmologists should be aware of the potential link between conjunctivitis and COVID-19. "Because conjunctivitis is a common condition overall, and patients with conjunctivitis frequently present to eye clinics or emergency departments, it may happen that ophthalmologists are the first providers to evaluate patients possibly infected with COVID-19," the AAO said. "It is possible—but not proven—that a patient with COVID-19-associated conjunctivitis could have infectious virus in their ocular secretions."


https://www.newsweek.com/eye-pain-symptom-coronavirus-google-searches-my-eyes-hurt-areas-high-covid-19-rates-1497016

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