After developing “Covid eye”, a rare side effects that researchers have linked with coronavirus, a nine-year old boy nearly went blind. He spent Christmas at the hospital.
Zac Morey (in Year 5 of school) lost vision in his left side eye within a matter of days after testing positive.
Following his diagnosis of orbital cellulitis (a bacterial infection that affects the eyes socket), the boy had his eye shut down completely.
Zac is now completely healthy, but his family has warned that too much infection can result in blindness.
Angela, his mother, was 37 years old. Angela said that her son’s eye seemed to be about to burst.
“He couldn’t open it without pulling on the skin,” he said. It was more swollen than anything else I had ever seen.
Zac Morey, aged nine, from Bristol, lost vision in his left eye less than a week after testing positive for the virus and developing orbital cellulitis – a bacterial infection of the eye socket
After his diagnosis, Zac spent Christmas at the hospital. Angela, his mother, was 37 years old and said that Zac’s eyes looked as if they were about to burst.
Zac was diagnosed with an eye condition after being tested positive for Covid on December 16th, along his mom and four siblings.
The teenager suffered from cold-like symptoms. He was able to spend his isolation period at home playing computer games.
However, he experienced pain in his left eye on 22 December after he was twice negative for Covid.
Angela is a local Councillor and said, “I assumed it was simply being on the computer seven days straight so I didn’t think much about it.”
“But it wasn’t good by Christmas Eve. The doctor admitted him and gave him an antibiotic drip that lasted until Boxing Day.
“If it gets too deep into your eye, it can lead to blindness,” she said. Doctors said that it was an allergic reaction to the viral virus, which can affect children.
After a thorough eye exam, which confirmed that his eyes had completely recovered from the accident, Zac was released from hospital.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), conjunctivitis can occur as side effects of Covid. Studies have also linked orbital cellsulitis with coronavirus.
Zac, left with Angela (right), has now fully recovered. However his family warns others about the possibility of blindness if it gets too severe.
Zac is seen in hospital. His mother stated that doctors had told him it was an allergic reaction to the virus, which affects children.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), conjunctivitis can occur as side effects of Covid. Studies have also linked orbital cellsulitis with coronavirus.
The Journal of Craniofacial Surgery reported on a case of orbital cellulitis among a South Brazilian 28-year-old man after he was tested positive for Covid.
The case findings of Doctor Vinícius Almeida Carvalho and his team at the State University of Londrina, Brazil, indicated that Covid may contribute to sinus infection, which can potentially spread to the area surrounding the eye.
A report from the American Academy of Ophthalmology examined three patients at New York’s Northwell Health hospital, and also found a possible link between eye infection and coronavirus.
The three patients, who had all tested positive for Covid, were diagnosed with keratitis that quickly led to endophthalmitis – an infection of the tissues or fluids inside the eyeball – and profound vision loss within two months.
Although the evidence didn’t prove that Covid was responsible for the eye infection, the jury considered endophthalmitis due to keratitis as an ‘exceedingly uncommon’ condition.
Three cases in New York within two months of each other, which is where Covid cases are high, was deemed a reason for further investigation by researchers.
And another study linking orbital cellulitis to coronavirus was published last March by Masood Bagheri and colleagues at Kermanshah University’s Department of Ophthalmology in Iran.
The company noted that there were few reports about orbital involvement in Covid-19 patients, such as orbital cellsulitis.
The study presented orbital cellulitis as a ‘possible manifestation’ of Covid-19, but was unable to determine whether the virus is a coincidental or a predisposing factor to the bacterial infection.
It theorised that Covid contributing to immunodeficiency and sinus obstruction could result in orbital cellulitis, adding: ‘Although, for confirming this hypothesis more studies and reports are warranted in the future.’
