Woman loses sight to dengue

Mumbai: A rare manifestation of dengue has left a 23-year-old woman from the city without her eyesight. Doctors have said they’re perplexed by the situation. The girl had contracted dengue in November last year. So far, she has undergone two corrective ophthalmic procedures and is awaiting a third. Doctors said after the first surgery on her right eye, she gradually regained 100% vision. However, her left eye has only 10% vision.

Dr. Janhvi Mehta, an ophthalmologist at Jaslok Hospital, said the girl was brought to their Out Patient Department mid-November. “More than the high grade fever and rashes, her sudden blindness had the family worried. We advised she be admitted immediately.” She said as per her evaluation, the girl was suffering from dengue retinopathy. Ophthalmic complications of dengue have been seen during outbreaks across the world, but instances are rare.

The patient, an accountant by profession, was brought to the hospital without perception of light in both eyes. Dr. Mehta said, “In the left eye, we found a retinal detachment. In simpler words, her retina was not in place and there was a lot of fluid and blood accumulation which resulted in vision loss.” In her right eye, doctors found complete opacification of the lens, which appears as a white layer.

Dr. Mehta said such white layers are seen in age-related cataract cases, but in this patient, the white layer had developed within 24 hours. The patient underwent a sutureless cataract removal procedure in both eyes within three months, in which the cloudy lens was replaced with an artificial intraocular lens. “We are planning another procedure to correct vision in her left eye.”

In January 2015, three similar cases were reported from Aditya Jyot Hospital in Wadala. Dr. Chinmay Nakhwa, director, retina services, said referral to an ophthalmologist on time is crucial to salvage vision. He said, “The virus reduces immunity and we presume that it is the main reason why opportunistic infections like the ones in the eye are found in patients.” Dr Nakhwa, who has seen five cases of patients losing sight to dengue, said vision is regained with corrective procedures.