Why Are We Ignoring Virus Infection Risks Via Our Eyes?
New studies are showing the public is being fed poor advice about wearing masks while not being informed of the real danger of virus infection via our eyes. In short, wearing a mask without eye protection will not prevent infection.
Medical researchers at Johns Hopkins and Sun Yat-sen University, China publish a study (May 10, 2020) indicating high risk of COVID-19 transmission via the eyes. The natural frequency of human hand-eye contact means our eyes are “a portal of entry as well as a reservoir for person-to-person transmission of this virus.” [1]
The study suggests that if droplets from an infected person’s sneeze or cough were to reach the eye’s tissue, the pathogen could begin infiltrating cells there.
Meanwhile, a report by Foxnews.com goes as far as declaring ‘Coronavirus up to 100 times more infectious through eyes, airways than SARS’ (May 08, 2020) [2]
“SARS-Cov-2, the virus that causes a COVID-19 infection, is nearly 100 times more effective at infecting the human conjunctiva — a thin, clear tissue covering the eyeball and inner surface of the eyelids — and upper respiratory airways than SARS, Dr. Michael Chan Chi-wai, who led the research team at Hong Kong University’s School of Public Health, told the South China Morning Post”
Wearing glasses may offer protection, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology. Health care workers are advised to use safety goggles when treating potentially infected patients.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on their website recommends eye protection for a variety of potential exposure settings where workers may be at risk of acquiring infectious diseases via ocular exposure. [3]
Doctors first claimed the virus could be spread through the eyes in January 2020, when the epicenter was still in Wuhan, China.
Dr. Wang Guangfa said at the time that he believed he had been infected because he had not been wearing protective goggles, the Express reported.Several days before experiencing pneumonia, the Peking University respiratory specialist observed that his eyes were red.
Katherine Kam, reporting for webMB.com reported about Virologist Joseph Fair, PhD, an NBC News contributor who raised the issue of infection via the eyes after he became critically ill with COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
Kam writes:
“From a hospital bed in his hometown of New Orleans, he told the network that he had flown on a crowded plane where flight attendants weren’t wearing masks. He wore a mask and gloves, but no eye protection.
“My best guess,” he told the interviewer, “was that it came through the eye route.” Asked if people should start wearing eye protection, Fair replied, “In my opinion, yes.”
Some research has begun pointing in that direction, according to Elia Duh, MD, a researcher and professor of ophthalmology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore.
The clear tissue that covers the white of the eye and lines the inside of the eyelid, known as the conjunctiva, “can be infected by other viruses, such as adenoviruses associated with the common cold and the herpes simplex virus,” he says.
There’s the same chance of infection with SARS-CoV-2, says Duh:
“If there are droplets that an infected individual is producing by coughing or sneezing or even speaking, then the front of the eyes are directly exposed, just like the nasal passages are exposed. In addition, people rub and touch their eyes a lot. So there’s certainly already the vulnerability … all of this evidence together seems to suggest that there’s a good likelihood that the ocular surface cells are susceptible to infection by coronavirus.””
Meanwhile, in ‘Coronavirus can enter the body through the eyes, study says’ Yaron Steinbuch of the New York Post tells us:
“The novel coronavirus can be transmitted through the eyes because of a protein known as the “gateway” into cells inside the body, according to a new study.
A team of researchers from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have found that the eyes create the protein called ACE-2, making them a target for the virus, according to the Mirror.”
In their study, published on bioRxiv, the researchers, led by Lingli Zhou, wrote: “Ocular surface cells including conjunctiva are susceptible to infection by SARS-CoV-2, and could therefore serve as a portal of entry as well as a reservoir for person-to-person transmission of this virus.”
On www.linkedin.com Scott Oliver suggested readers look at the OSHA website which gives us a chilling warning about the dangers of wearing face masks:
“ Cloth face coverings: ‘Will not protect the wearer against airborne transmissible infectious agents due to loose fit and lack of seal or inadequate filtration.’ Surgical masks: ‘Will not protect the wearer against airborne transmissible infectious agents due to loose fit and lack of seal or inadequate filtration.” [4]
While OSHA also stipulates the minimum level of oxygen required (19.5{154653b9ea5f83bbbf00f55de12e21cba2da5b4b158a426ee0e27ae0c1b44117} ) in the atmosphere otherwise it would be considered an IDLH (Immediate Danger to Life and Health). OSHA further warns that if you wear any ordinary face mask, this lowers your oxygen levels to around 17.4 (3) which OSHA considers an Immediate Danger to Life and Health (IDLH) [5,6,7,8]
H/T Jeff Porter and Scott Oliver
[1] https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.09.086165v1.full.pdf
[2] https://www.foxnews.com/health/coronavirus-more-infectious-eyes-airways-sars
[3] https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/eye/eye-infectious.html
[4] https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/covid-19/covid-19-faq.html
[5] https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1910/1910.134
[6] https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/shipyard/shiprepair/confinedspace/oxygendeficient.html
[7] https://twitter.com/MdKnightBabe/status/1275537902009675776
[8] https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/standardinterpretations/1995-05-01-2
About the author: John O’Sullivan John is CEO and co-founder (with Dr Tim Ball) of Principia Scientific International (PSI). John is a seasoned science writer and legal analyst who assisted Dr Ball in defeating world leading climate expert, Michael ‘hockey stick’ Mann in the ‘science trial of the century‘. O’Sullivan is credited as the visionary who formed the original ‘Slayers’ group of scientists in 2010 who then collaborated in creating the world’s first full-volume debunk of the greenhouse gas theory plus their new follow-up book.
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Tom O
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Great. Stoking new worries about a virus that hasn’t been isolated and has proven to be far less dangerous that it was pretended to be. Now we can watch the run on safety glasses, and drive the price of these $5 worthwhile protection for home projects to $20 useless accessories in the fight against the highly questionable “pandemic.”
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Alan
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The ideal protection is a diving mask and snorkel, but the flippers could be a problem.
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T. C. Clark
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Good information…where is Fauci? Some people with the virus complain that the symptoms just keep hanging around. CDC says if you are 75, there is almost a 20% chance that you will be hospitalized if you get the virus and a 4% chance for ICU treatment. One report claims antibodies may go away after a few months. This thing is the virus from hell.
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Charles Higley
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If you look at the data from past flu seasons, you will see that most of the fatalities are in the elderly and particularly those who are already critical in some way. Have you noticed the evident lack of such introspection? They do not want the public to know that this group is always the target of the flu season. It is not news and, yes, dying of the “flu,” which includes all of the salad of flu season viruses, is tragic, but many of these people were critically ill in the first place, in which case, an added stress takes them down.
It is very much like a heat wave that raises the mortality rate for a week. Interestingly, the mortality rate drops below average AFTER the heat wave, because it took people who were going to die soon anyhow. In contrast, a cold wave raises the mortality rate but the rate goes back to normal after the cold wave because cold kills all kinds of people and not only the already critical.
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Charles Higley
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” The natural frequency of human hand-eye contact means our eyes are “a portal of entry as well as a reservoir for person-to-person transmission of this virus.” [1]”
Total BS. Our eyes are wet surfaces that easily glom onto anything that touches it. We catch most of out colds and flu through our eyes just by their being open and moist. Dirt then moves down tear ducts to the back of our throats and it is now in us. Pretending particulates, including viruses and bacteria, mostly get to our eyes by touching is misdirection.
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Ddwieland
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Hasn’t it been known for a long time that the eye is a reliable entry point for virus infection? I recall watching a TV program years ago about research into the common cold. The volunteers were infected by eye drops at the outer corner of their eyes.
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Squidly
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Bullshit .. according the the worlds lead virologists the only way to become infected by viruses is through the mouth and nose! .. it would be extremely difficult to contract a virus through your eyes or eye ducts because there is no entry. This article is full of crap.
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