Blink of an Eye: A Case Report and Literature Review

Abstract

We report here the case of a 36-year-old male emergency physician contracting the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) while performing endotracheal intubation on a coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) positive patient with conjunctivitis as the sole symptom. On the day of exposure, a conjunctival swab was collected from both eyes which turned out to be negative. But, a nasopharyngeal swab sampled on the third day of exposure gave a positive result with cycle threshold (CT) value of 16. The physician was already vaccinated with two doses of ChAdox1 nCoV-19 vaccine, with a second dose taken 81 days prior to exposure. This case report demonstrates that conjunctivitis can be the sole manifestation of COVID-19 infection. It further reiterates the importance of Personal Protective Equipments (PPEs), goggles, and face shields at the time of intubation and more specifically to all vaccinated emergency physicians, intensive care specialists, and ophthalmologists to be more cautious if a patient is presented with a sole symptom of conjunctivitis.