Prevalence and Clinical Features of Ocular Adenoviral Infection among Patients Attended to Ibn-Alhaitham Teaching Eye Hospital in Baghdad, Iraq: A Molecular Study

Abstract

Background: Viral conjunctivitis is commonly caused by adenoviruses, with a rate of up to 40% of all viral
causes.
Objective: To show prevalence and clinical features of ocular adenoviral infection at Ibn-Alhaitham teaching
eye hospital in Baghdad, Iraq.
Patients and Method: In this cross-sectional study, eye swab samples were taken from 638 patients with
clinically diagnosed infectious conjunctivitis during the period from August 2019 to February 2020. Samples
were processed and tested using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to detect adenoviral infection.
Results: Of 638 patients with infectious conjunctivitis attended to the Ibn Al-Haitham teaching ophthalmic
hospital in Baghdad, 113 cases (17.7%) were confirmed to having ocular adenoviral infection with the mean
age 27±8.4 years and The highest percentage of those affected in the age group 1-10-year-old (31.9%).
Sixty-three were male (55.8%) and 50 were females (44.2%). non-statistically significant difference between
unilateral & bilateral involvement. Of total 113 patients with ocular adenoviral infection, 50 (44.2%)
patients experienced flu-like illness during or before their ocular complaint, 85 (75.2%), 28 (24.8%) showed
conjunctival follicular reaction and conjunctival membrane formation respectively. Only four (3.5%)
patients showed no corneal changes during their ocular infection, 39 (34.5%) patients showed mild punctate
epithelial keratitis, 54 (47.8%) patients showed significant punctate epithelial keratitis and 16 (14.2 %)
patients showed anterior stromal infiltrate. 64 (56.6%) patients developed lymphadenopathy.
During follow up, 13 (11.5%) of patients fully recovered within less than 14 days, 69 (61%) patients
recovered in 2-4 weeks whereas 31 (27.4%) patients took longer than 4 weeks for a full recovery.
Conclusion: Results have demonstrated that adenoviruses are common causative agents for infectious
conjunctivitis. PCR revealed to be more sensitive and accurate for detecting adenoviral ocular infection