%0 Journal Article
%T COVID-19 pandemic: Impact on the rate of viral conjunctivitis.
%A Conde Bachiller Y
%A Puente Gete B
%A Gil Ibáñez L
%A Esquivel Benito G
%A Asencio Duran M
%A Dabad Moreno JV
%J Arch Soc Esp Oftalmol (Engl Ed)
%V 97
%N 2
%D Feb 2022
%M 35152950
暂无%R 10.1016/j.oftale.2022.01.001
%X <B>OBJECTIVE: </B>The COVID-19 pandemic led Spain to order a state of alert with the cessation of non-essential activities on 14 March 2020, and to implement public health interventions (such as home confinement) and other health recommendations to prevent the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus (hand washing and the obligation to wear face-masks). These factors could have influenced the rate of viral conjunctivitis.<BR><B>METHODS: </B>In this retrospective, noninterventional, descriptive study, the incidence of viral conjunctivitis in an emergency department of a national hospital is compared over two distinct time periods: pre-COVID (13 March-30 September 2019, one year before the start of the pandemic) and COVID (13 March-30 September 2020).<BR><B>RESULTS: </B>In the first period there were 436 cases of conjunctivitis, of which 168 (38.5%) were confirmed cases of viral conjunctivitis 168 (38.5%), while in the second period there were 121 recorded cases, of which the most frequent were allergic and traumatic (23 cases; 19% each group), bacterial (15 cases; 12.3%) and viral (15 cases; 12.3%). The diagnosis of viral conjunctivitis is the one that suffered the most significant relative reduction (48.5%), while other types of conjunctivitis hardly changed their relative frequency between these two periods of time.<BR><B>CONCLUSIONS: </B>Viral conjunctivitis is the most frequent infectious disease of the eye and has a transmission rate similar to that of coronavirus, so the measures implemented could positively affect its incidence.