Infectious corneal ulcers in context of COVID–19
Abstract
Introduction: Corneal ulcers cause preventable monocular blindness in developing countries. The COVID-19 pandemic has imposed atypical living and working conditions, with a global impact on health services.
Objective: to characterize the clinical-epidemiological behavior of infectious corneal ulcers in the cornea service of the Ciego de Ávila Ophthalmological Center in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods: an observational, longitudinal, prospective study was carried out in 48 patients with infectious corneal ulcer, treated from April 2020 to March 2021. The variables analyzed were: age, sex, pre-treatment evolution time, characteristics of the infiltrate, complications, clinical severity, hospital admission and final corneal status.
Results: the male sex and the group from 18 to 39 years old predominated. Infiltrates of 5 mm or less, paracentral, with deepening to the middle stroma, prevailed. Most of the complicated or serious cases and all those who underwent surgery had more than 72 hours of pre-treatment evolution. Admission criteria were modified to increase bed availability and minimize the number of hospitalized patients. The final degree of opacity was greater in patients with a prolonged pre-treatment evolution time. Conjunctival resurfacing was the most performed surgery, due to the impact of the pandemic on the availability of amniotic membranes and donor corneas.
Conclusions: the COVID-19 pandemic had a negative impact, both on the delay in people's presentation to ophthalmological services, as well as on the treatment and performance of medical personnel and, therefore, on the evolution of patients with corneal ulcers. infectious.
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