Ocular manifestations of emerging infectious diseases

Emergent and resurgent infectious diseases are major causes of systemic morbidity and death that are expanding worldwide mainly because of climate changes and globalization. Among them, specific diseases have been recently associated with ocular involvement. This review presents the ocular manifestations of selected emerging infectious diseases relevant to the ophthalmologist.

An array of ocular manifestations, involving mainly the posterior segment, have been recently described in association with specific arthropod vector-borne diseases including rickettsioses, West Nile virus, Rift Valley fever, Dengue fever, and Chikungunya. Influenza A (H1N1) virus has also been recently associated with ocular involvement. On the contrary, with advances in laboratory testing applied to ocular fluids, new infectious agents, mainly viruses, are increasingly being found to be associated with uveitis.

Emerging infectious diseases should be considered in the differential diagnosis of retinitis, chorioretinitis, retinal vasculitis, optic neuropathy, or any other ocular inflammatory condition in a patient living in or traveling back from a specific endemic area. On the contrary, ocular fluid sampling and analysis for specific new pathogens can be recommended in selected patients with uveitis of unexplained cause.