Presentation type | E-poster |
Title | Uveitis following COVID-19 infection: A case series including Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada (VKH) disease and Birdshot chorioretinopathy |
Purpose | Uveitis in the context of COVID-19 is rare. However, among reported cases, uncommon posterior variants such as multiple evanescent white dot syndrome, acute macular neuropathy, tubular interstitial nephritis with uveitis and Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada (VKH) disease appear with a relatively higher frequency following COVID-19 infection or COVID-19 vaccination. In this series, we report four cases of new-onset uveitis following a polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-confirmed COVID-19 infection: two cases of incomplete VKH disease and two cases of Birdshot chorioretinopathy (BSCR). |
Methods | Retrospective case series including multimodal imaging |
Results | Four patients presented with ocular symptoms and characteristic clinical findings consistent with either VKH disease or BSCR shortly after PCR-confirmed COVID-19 infection. VKH disease occurred acutely within two weeks of infection, in line with six previously reported cases, while BSCR presented one month after infection. One VKH patient and both BSCR patients had received their last COVID-19 vaccine two to seven months prior to infection. HLA genotyping revealed positivity for HLA-A29 in both BSCR cases. One VKH case carried the HLA-DRB1*04:04 allele, indicating possible genetic susceptibility. No relevant medical history was reported, and systemic work-up was negative in all cases. |
Conclusion | We report the first two documented cases of BSCR in the setting of PCR-confirmed COVID-19 infection, and add two cases of possible COVID-19 induced VKH disease to the existing literature. While causality remains to be fully established, COVID-19 should be considered as a potential immunological trigger for BSCR, in line with its documented role in VKH disease. |
Conflict of interest | No |
Initials | M |
Last name | Verhaegen |
Department | UZ Leuven |
Initials | C |
Last name | Deghislage |
Department | ZOL Genk |
Initials | M |
Last name | Wirix |
Department | ZOL Genk |
Initials | PP |
Last name | Schauwvlieghe |
Department | UZ Leuven / ZAS |