CONJUNCTIVITIS, TYPES OF INFLAMMATION OF THE CONJUCTIVA, PRESENTATION AND COMPARISON OF CLASSIC VIRUS CONJUNCTIVITIES AND CONJUCTIVITIS CAUSED BY SARS-CoV-2 VIRUS

Abstract

The eye is the main organ of the visual system. It is a paired sensory organ, located on the front of the skull. The function of the human eye is to receive light stimuli, transmitting them to higher centers and processing them to create an image. The conjunctiva is a tissue membrane that coats the eyelids and sclera. It is a thin, transparent mucous membrane that connects these two organs at the passage from the eyelid to the eyeball, after which it got the name conjunctiva (conjugo-connects). Like any other organ, the conjunctiva can undergo certain pathological processes. Different agents can cause inflammation in the conjunctiva, which are all referred to by one name as conjunctivitis (conjunctiva-conjunctiva, -itis-inflammation). Inflammatory processes in the conjunctiva can be caused by various physical, chemical and biological agents, most often due to microorganisms, i.e. bacteria, viruses and environmental agents resulting in different types of clinical forms of conjunctivitis. The latest form of viral conjunctivitis that is a hot topic due to the bombastic spread of the causative agent is COVID conjunctivitis caused by SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the emergence of the most widespread and deadly pandemic of the 21st century. The objective is to present the different forms of inflammation of the conjunctiva, to explain and compare the manifestation of COVID conjunctivitis contrast to other viral conjunctivitis by analyzing all clinically significant changes that follow with these infections.All data in this paper is based on or directly injected from domestic and international authors, medical publications, a wide range of specialist papers, officially published statistics from the World Health Organization, Center for Disease Control (CDC), Ministry of Health and Institute of Public Health of R. North Macedonia. After reviewing and dissecting all data obtained from various studies that focus on a larger or smaller number of patients as a target group, COVID conjunctivitis is proven to be a more serious, more severe and longer lasting disease than the classical viral conjunctivitis. Symptoms and signs may overlap in different types of viral conjunctivitis, with the difference that they are much more severe in those caused by SARS-CoV-2. According to all available data from various published studies, research, statistics on both the COVID pandemic as a whole and the ocular manifestation of the infection, it is inevitable to conclude that conjunctivitis caused by SARS-CoV-2 is a more severe disease, with more pronounced symptoms, more intense clinical presentation, and the disease manifests itself longer than in other viral conjunctivitis. Preventing the spread and preventing the outbreak of the disease is the best way to fight COVID.