Rolling out Covid-19 vaccinations at New York's Northwell Health Hospital. Credit: Northwell Health

According to a review by the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), three Covid-19 patients in their sixties, admitted to New York’s Northwell Health Hospital within the same two-month period in 2020, developed keratitis, which led to endophthalmitis and vision loss.

The review did not assert a causal link between Covid-19 and keratitis, but researchers noted that, “The occurrence of keratitis leading to rapid perforation and endophthalmitis is exceedingly rare. To have three cases present over the course of two months in New York, a coronavirus epicentre, is a cause for more investigation.” Each of the three patients presented with a different culture: Streptococcus pneumoniae, Serratia marcescens, and Candida parapsilosis.

Dr Sonal Tuli, a clinical spokesperson for AAO, said, “It is possible that some aspect of the health of these individuals made them more liable to get infected with Covid-19 as well as a severe infection in their eye, such as a poor immune system or nutritional deficiencies. It is also possible that these findings are incidental because of the large numbers of Covid-19-positive patients presenting to New York hospitals during the peak of the pandemic in New York.”