Ocular features of hantavirus infection

Hantavirus infections are an emerging infectious disease that is beginning to be recognized both worldwide and in India as a cause of hemorrhagic fever that may present as a pulmonary syndrome or as a renal syndrome. Reports of ocular involvement are rare and include transient myopia, low intraocular pressure, conjunctival hemorrhages and changes of intraocular dimensions. Eleven patients (10 males, one female, mean age 37.6 years) were admitted to the intensive care unit for pyrexia of unknown origin or hemorrhagic fever following exposure to flood waters. Five male patients (mean age 31.6 years) were identified as suffering from hantavirus infection. In one patient, dot and blot intraretinal hemorrhages were seen in the macula of one eye and streak hemorrhages of the disc in the other. In the remaining four, no fundus abnormalities were seen. Ophthalmologists should be aware of these features.