Epidemiological spectrum of infectious uveitis in the Asia-Pacific.

Abstract

Infectious uveitis remains a major cause of global visual morbidity, with significant geographic variability in its epidemiological patterns and clinical presentations. The Asia-Pacific region presents a unique model to study infectious uveitis, due to socioeconomic, environmental, and healthcare diversity within its populations. This narrative review explores the spectrum of infectious uveitides prevalent in the Asia-Pacific region, emphasizing diseases with high endemicity, emerging threats, and those posing notable diagnostic or therapeutic challenges. The review also highlights the critical importance of considering an infectious etiology in the differential diagnosis of uveitis, especially within, or travelers from endemic areas. The associated hosts, transmission vectors, and epidemiology of infectious uveitis, when combined with both the systemic and ocular phenotype can rationalize subsequent investigations and empiric therapy. Highly prevalent causes of infectious uveitis with typical ophthalmic manifestations are diagnosed utilizing consensus diagnostic criteria. However, regionally endemic and emerging diseases frequently present with overlapping clinical features, and their recognition requires the integration of epidemiologic insight with targeted diagnostics. Rare and novel uveitides are also addressed. Molecular diagnostics have transformed pathogen detection but remain inaccessible in many low-resource settings which may contribute to under-reporting. There has been increasing global and regional epidemiological surveillance of infection and seropositivity in both humans and reservoir hosts in the contemporary literature. However, interventional studies for the management of ophthalmic disease remain limited. This review underscores the evolving epidemiology of infectious uveitis in the Asia-Pacific and provides a comprehensive reference to inform clinical suspicion, directed diagnostic investigation, and public health planning.