Corneal nerve fibre loss and increased dendritic cells in patients with long Covid

Coronavirus, Health, Healthcare, Hospitalization, Infection, Long Covid, Symptoms, Treatment

This study has quantified corneal sub-basal nerve plexus morphology and dendritic cell (DC) density in patients with and without long COVID.

Results: The mean time after the diagnosis of COVID-19 was 3.7±1.5 months. Patients with neurological symptoms 4 weeks after acute COVID-19 had a lower CNFD, CNBD, and CNFL, and increased DC density  compared with controls, while patients without neurological symptoms had comparable corneal nerve parameters, but increased DC density.

Conclusion Corneal confocal microscopy identifies corneal small nerve fibre loss and increased DCs in patients with long COVID, especially those with neurological symptoms. CCM could be used to objectively identify patients with long COVID.

BMJ article: Corneal confocal microscopy identifies corneal nerve fibre loss and increased dendritic cells in patients with long COVID

 

See also BiorXiv preprint: SARS-CoV-2 infects and replicates in photoreceptor and retinal ganglion cells of human retinal organoids

 

Significant abnormalities found in the eyes of some patients with severe COVID-19

 

 

 

 

Image by cocoparisienne from Pixabay

** This post was originally published on October 14, 2021 **