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Acute Corneal Endothelial Graft Rejection With Coinciding COVID-19 Infection
Sierra X Jin1, Viral V Juthani
1Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY.
Purpose:
To report a case of acute corneal endothelial graft rejection with the concurrent onset of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) symptoms.
Methods:
Case report.
Results:
A 31-year-old African American woman with a history of asthma, sleep apnea, obesity (body mass index of 40), and bilateral keratoconus was noted to have acute corneal endothelial graft rejection 3 months after uncomplicated penetrating keratoplasty of the left eye. The patient developed dysgeusia and subjective fever on the same day as ocular discomfort, and she was subsequently diagnosed with COVID-19 with only these 2 classic symptoms of the viral infection.
Conclusions:
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 is known to cause conjunctivitis and has demonstrated transmissibility through ocular secretions. Acute immune and inflammatory dysregulations have been seen in cases of COVID-19 through various mechanisms. COVID-19 infection may potentially compromise ocular immune privilege contributing to acute corneal graft rejection.
