TY - JOUR T1 - COVID-19 pandemic: Impact on the rate of viral conjunctivitis JO - Archivos de la Sociedad Española de Oftalmología (English Edition) T2 - AU - Conde Bachiller,Y. AU - Puente Gete,B. AU - Gil Ibáñez,L. AU - Esquivel Benito,G. AU - Asencio Duran,M. AU - Dabad Moreno,J.V. SN - 21735794 M3 - 10.1016/j.oftale.2022.01.001 DO - 10.1016/j.oftale.2022.01.001 UR - https://www.elsevier.es/en-revista-archivos-sociedad-espanola-oftalmologia-english-496-articulo-covid-19-pandemic-impact-on-rate-S2173579422000044 AB - ObjectiveThe COVID-19 pandemic led Spain to order a state of alert with the cessation of non-essential activities on 14 March 2020, and to implement public health interventions (such as home confinement) and other health recommendations to prevent the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus (hand washing and the obligation to wear face-masks). These factors could have influenced the rate of viral conjunctivitis. MethodIn this retrospective, noninterventional, descriptive study, the incidence of viral conjunctivitis in an emergency department of a national hospital is compared over two distinct time periods: pre-COVID (13 March-30 September 2019, one year before the start of the pandemic) and COVID (13 March-30 September 2020). ResultsIn the first period there were 436 cases of conjunctivitis, of which 168 (38.5%) were confirmed cases of viral conjunctivitis 168 (38.5%), while in the second period there were 121 recorded cases, of which the most frequent were allergic and traumatic (23 cases; 19% each group), bacterial (15 cases; 12.3%) and viral (15 cases; 12.3%). The diagnosis of viral conjunctivitis is the one that suffered the most significant relative reduction (48.5%), while other types of conjunctivitis hardly changed their relative frequency between these two periods of time. ConclusionsViral conjunctivitis is the most frequent infectious disease of the eye and has a transmission rate similar to that of coronavirus, so the measures implemented could positively affect its incidence. ER -