New Research Reveals COVID-19 Virus Could Damage Vision

Researchers at the University of Missouri School of Medicine have discovered the virus that causes COVID-19 can breach the blood-retinal barrier with potential long-term consequences in the eye.

Using a humanized ACE2 mice model, research led by Pawan Kumar Singh, PhD, an assistant professor of ophthalmology, found that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, can infect the inside of the eyes even when the virus doesn’t enter the body through the surface of the eyes. Instead, they found that when viruses enter the body through inhalation, it not only infects organs like lungs, but also reaches highly protected organs like eyes through the blood-retinal barrier by infecting the cells lining this barrier.

“This finding is important as we increase our understanding of the long-term effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection,” Dr. Singh said in University of Missouri article. “Earlier, researchers were primarily focused on the ocular surface exposure of the virus. However, our findings reveal that SARS-CoV-2 not only reaches the eye during systemic infection but induces a hyperinflammatory response in the retina and causes cell death in the blood-retinal barrier. The longer viral remnants remain in the eye, the risk of damage to the retina and visual function increases.”

Read the full article here.