Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a highly infectious disease that has caused a pandemic devastating many countries worldwide. It is a complex and multifaceted disease with a unique coronavirus etiology, pathogenesis, zoonotic, and human-to-human transmission, causing acute respiratory distress syndrome with high mortality. Accurate and timely diagnosis is of utmost importance. In this study, we discussed the complexities of COVID-19 diagnostic elements in the context of pandemicity, drawing from our awareness, observations, and lessons learned from two previous coronavirus pandemics, namely SARS-CoV (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus) in 2002 and MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus) in 2012, and how they applied to the diagnosis of COVID-19 today. Diagnosis of COVID-19 takes place without physician-patient personal contact due to isolation or quarantine or in the hospital setting, emergency units, and critical care units with the cumbersome barriers of personal protective equipment. Technical diagnosis is important, but we also emphasized the human impact of diagnosing COVID-19. Conveying the diagnosis of a critical disease to patients and families requires aspects of excellence in professionalism: ethics, empathy, and humility. Diagnostic skills in COVID-19 should extend to prognostication for patients suffering at the end of life, so that they will not be deprived of high-quality palliative care and comfort.
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Experience of caring for patients with COVID-19 and educational achievement among Japanese resident physicians: a nationwide survey with general medicine in-training examination Sho Nishiguchi, Yuji Nishizaki, Miki Hamaguchi, Atshushi Goto, Masahiko Inamori, Kiyoshi Shikino, Tomohiro Shinozaki, Koshi Kataoka, Taro Shimizu, Yu Yamamoto, Sho Fukui, Hiroyuki Kobayashi, Yasuharu Tokuda BMC Medical Education.2024;[Epub] CrossRef
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a novel coronavirus named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The world is currently challenged to handle this pandemic. The common symptoms of COVID-19 are fever, cough, fatigue, and shortness of breath. There are few reports on the association of SARS-CoV-2 with ocular abnormalities including conjunctivitis. We report a case of a 54-year-old woman who presented solely with conjunctivitis subsequently diagnosed with COVID-19. A lack of full history of her travel abroad was another issue leading to a delay in evaluating her COVID-19 status that increased the infection risk to her managing team. Thus, primary care practitioners should be suspicious of this atypical feature of COVID-19, thus enabling us to identify such patients at entry points. Maintaining safety measures while managing patients is also crucial.
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Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in Conjunctival Swab Samples Among Patients Presenting with Conjunctivitis During the COVID-19 Pandemic Sezen Karakus, James Foster, Xi Dai, Anthony Gonzales, Xi Zhu, Charles Eberhart, William Hsu Clinical Ophthalmology.2022; Volume 16: 127. CrossRef
COVID-19 and the Eye: A Comprehensive Review of the Literature Yilin Feng, Stephen T. Armenti, Shahzad I. Mian International Ophthalmology Clinics.2021; 61(1): 1. CrossRef
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Are eyes the windows to COVID-19? Systematic review and meta-analysis Rina La Distia Nora, Ikhwanuliman Putera, Dhiya Farah Khalisha, Indah Septiana, Asri Salima Ridwan, Ratna Sitompul BMJ Open Ophthalmology.2020; 5(1): e000563. CrossRef
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