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Greetings! I hope you are well.

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Science and Education Publishing (SciEP) is a multidisciplinary open access publisher of Journals covering the fields of Science, Technology and Medicine. All SciEP publications are subject to high-quality peer review, editorial and production processes and are freely available online.

Welcome to the April, 2013 edition of SciEP newsletter, providing monthly summaries of articles on science & education related topics of interest to scientist and professionals. The mission of our journals is to provide an open access forum for publishing new findings on issues pertinent to scientific and academic field. We also invite you to submit original research papers, review articles, short reports, or case studies are considered for publication in our Multidisciplinary Journals.

American Journal of Public Health Research
DOI: 10.12691/ajphr-1-1-3

The Implementation of a Tele-Homecare System with Service Oriented Architecture and HL7 Message Transmission Standard
Ching-Sung Wang

American Journal of Medical and Biological Research
DOI: 10.12691/ajmbr-1-1-2

The Influence of Ethanol on Pyruvate Kinases Activity in Vivo, in Vitro, in Silico
Lelevich Sergey Vladimirovich, Khrustalev Vladislav Victorovich, Barkovsky Eugene Victorovich, Shedogubova Tatyana Aleksandrovna

American Journal of Medical Sciences and Medicine
DOI: 10.12691/ajmsm-1-1-1

Clinical and Histological Features in Wegener Granulomatosis
Li Cavoli Gioacchino, Passantino Rita, Bono Luisa, Tortorici Calogera, Ferrantelli Angelo, Giammarresi Carlo, Rotolo Ugo

American Journal of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology
DOI: 10.12691/ajidm-1-1-2

The Curse of Lymphatic Filariasis: Would the Continual Use of Diethylcarbamazine Eliminate this Scourge in Papua New Guinea?
Anne Lanham, Lillian Mwanri

We have released issues of some journals on February 2013.
American Journal of Public Health Research
American Journal of Medical Sciences and Medicine
American Journal of Medical and Biological Research
American Journal of Pharmacological Sciences
American Journal of Clinical Medicine Research
American Journal of Nursing Research
American Journal of Cancer Prevention
American Journal of Medicine Studies
American Journal of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology
American Journal of Cardiovascular Disease Research
American Journal of Biomedical Research
American Journal of Mechanical Engineering
American Journal of Microbiological Research
Journal of Preventive Medicine
American Journal of Food and Nutrition
American Journal of Hypertension Research
American Journal of Sports Science and Medicine
Journal of Cancer Research and Treatment
American Journal of Zoological Research
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Biomedical Science and Engineering

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COVID-19 and Opthalmologists

Carlo Aleci

Abstract:

Keywords:

Received February 02, 2020; Revised March 10, 2020; Accepted March 15, 2020

Citation: Carlo Aleci, COVID-19 and Opthalmologists. Neuro Ophthalmology & Visual Neuroscience, 5 (1). 1-1. January 2020. doi:10.12691/novn-5-1-1

Dear Colleagues,

Italy, where I currently reside, is a country where the global health threat of COVID-19 has spread with particular virulence. The increasing number of cases has lead public authorities to stress about the mode of transmission of the disease via droplets in presence of respiratory symptoms and contaminated surfaces, and drastic prevention measures have been adopted. Yet, the role of conjunctivitis in asymptomatic subjects is receiving less attention and consideration than it deserves from the public health Authorities. As far as we know, pre-triage questionnaires in Italy do not investigate about conjunctival signs and symptoms (despite these can be early indicators of COVID-19 disease); this seems, indeed, unreasonable, even more considering that the first subject who contracted the disease in China was an ophthalmologist who examined a COVID-19 positive asymptomatic patient, and died one month later. As a matter of fact, Lai and colleagues¹ reported that the control measures adopted in their department include a triage system that inquires not only on recent travels to outbreak regions, fever and respiratory symptoms, but also on conjunctivitis of recent onset.

The dramatic conditions ophthalmologists are experiencing in most of the Italian Departments, where adequate protections, namely protective masks (not surgical but FFP2 or FFP3) and protective glasses are missing, make the risk of infection for eye care specialists unacceptable, so much so that the slit lamp examination requires a distance between technician and patient far less that one meter, that is the minimum safe distance recommended by the Italian health authorities. It is well known that the lack of adequate mouth, nose, and eye protection increases the risk of transmission by droplet contact. In this respect, it should be stressed that control measures in China recommend for ophthalmologists not only the use of eye protection devices and of adequate protective masks, but also of protective shields to be mounted on the slit lamps.

Based on the above, during an ophthalmological examination the use of adequate protections including gloves, eye shields, and FFP3 masks is mandatory for our safety and to limit the risk of disease transmission to the patients. With the lack or incomplete availability of such devices the ophthalmological practice must be suspended.

For the same reasons the use of contact lenses should be discontinued as long as the Covid-19 emergency comes to an end.

Life taught us: safety first.

References

[1]   | Lai THT, Tang EWH, Li KKW. (2020). Stepping up infection control measures in ophthalmology during the novel coronavirus outbreak: an experience from Hong Kong. Graeve’s Archive for Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology.