The purpose of a new study published in Current Opinion in Ophthalmology was to summarize the current literature, describe ocular manifestations, current using of ocular imaging/investigations, and management of ocular dengue.

It was stated that dengue fever can lead to a variety of ocular manifestations, the mechanisms underlying which remain unclear. Immune-mediated mechanisms and direct viral invasion are speculated to play an important role.

Moreover, ocular manifestations of dengue can be present in many stages of dengue fever—including after the resolution of systemic disease. Most cases of ocular dengue will have spontaneous improvement in vision over time. Multimodal imaging such as optical coherence tomography, optical coherence tomography angiography, near-infrared imaging and microperimetry plays an important role in the diagnosis, follow-up, quantitative measure and in the understanding of the disease progression.

It was suggested that careful assessment by ophthalmologists is warranted as patients with dengue-related ophthalmic disease may have poor visual acuity and exhibit refractoriness to treatment. Treatment with systemic corticosteroids may benefit patients with poor visual acuity, progressive ocular symptoms and lesions involving the optic nerve and/or threatening the macula.

Source: Current Opinion in Ophthalmology. 2019 Nov;30(6):500-505.