Investigating the Role of Adenovirus, Herpes Simplex 1, 2, and Varicella Zoster Virus in Incidence of Conjunctivitis in Tehran, Iran

"Conjunctivitis is one of the most common ocular diseases across the world. In this study, the prevalence of viral Conjunctivitis in patients who were referred to the Eye specialized Hospitals was evaluated. Some of the most important viruses that cause conjunctivitis are Human Adenoviruses (HAdV), Herpes Simplex 1, 2 (HSV-1, HSV-2), and Varicella Zoster Virus (VZV). The clinical diagnosis of eye viral infections is difficult and often controversial. Thus, research to experiment with these causative factors is of pivotal importance. In this cross-sectional study, 200 conjunctival swab samples were collected from symptomatic patients with signs of conjunctivitis who had been referred to two hospitals. After DNA extraction, Multiplex Real-Time PCR was carried out in two separate reactions for each sample. Among 200 collected samples, 34 (17%) and 8 (4%) were positive for Adenovirus and HSV-1 DNA, respectively. There were no HSV-2 and VZV conjunctivitis. No significant correlation was identified between gender and conjunctivitis (P-value: 0.845); however, there was a close correlation between age and conjunctivitis (Pvalue: 0.05). In this study, 66.3% of Adenoviral conjunctivitis occurs in the summer compared to 33.7% in spring. No significant seasonal variation was observed for HSV-1. Our results showed that adenovirus has a key role in causing viral conjunctivitis. "