Background
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is spread mainly through respiratory droplets or direct contact. However, the infection condition of the genital system is unknown. Our aim in this study was to determine if SARS-CoV-2 is present in the vaginal fluid of women with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Methods
Ten women with confirmed severe COVID-19 pneumonia admitted to the Tongji Zhongfa Hospital intensive care unit from 4 February 2020 through 24 February 2020 were included. Clinical records, laboratory results, and computed tomography examinations were retrospectively reviewed. The potential for genital infection was accessed by testing for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in vaginal fluids obtained from vaginal swab samples. Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction was used to confirm the SARS-CoV-2 infection in vaginal fluids.
Results
The clinical characteristics of the 10 women were similar to those reported in other severe COVID-19 patients. All 10 patients were tested for SARS-CoV-2 in vaginal fluid, and all samples tested negative for the virus.
Conclusions
Findings from this small group of cases suggest that SARS-CoV-2 virus does not exist in the vaginal fluids of severe COVID-19 patients.
IMPORTANCE Evaluating corneal morphologic characteristics with corneal tomographic scans before refractive surgery is necessary to exclude patients with at-risk corneas and keratoconus. In previous studies, researchers performed screening with machine learning methods based on specific corneal parameters. To date, a deep learning algorithm has not been used in combination with corneal tomographic scans.OBJECTIVE To examine the use of a deep learning model in the screening of candidates for refractive surgery.
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