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Chikungunya virus present in some asymptomatic corneal donors
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Four of 12 corneal donors apparently uninfected with the chikungunya virus were found to be infected with the virus, according to researchers of the Pasteur Institute in Paris.
The researchers also found in an animal model that the virus is transmissible through an ocular route.
“Chikungunya virus causes a systemic infection characterized by polyarthralgia and myalgia, sometimes associated with rash and ocular pain,” the researchers wrote. “Chikungunya virus infection is most often symptomatic, but 3% to 15% of infected individuals remain asymptomatic.”
The researchers screened serum specimens of 69 potential corneal donors from La Réunion, a French island in the Indian Ocean, for anti-chikungunya virus antibodies. The donors had all lived on the island during the 2005 to 2006 outbreak. Eye tissue specimens also were assessed.
Twelve donors who appeared uninfected were found to be affected with the virus. One was viremic, but seronegative for immunoglobulin M and IgG. Five were seropositive for IgM, but not IgG. Six were seropositive with both IgM and IgG.
Eye tissue was available for 12 donors. Using quantitative reverse-transcription real-time polymerase chain reaction testing, the researchers found chikungunya virus RNA in the corneoscleral rims of four patients. Of these patients, one was viremic, two were viremic and seropositive for IgM, and one was only seropositive for IgM.
“Our data strongly suggest that graft of ocular tissues containing infectious chikungunya virus represents an actual risk of viral transmission that can be avoided by testing eye tissue obtained for grafting, as was done during the outbreak in La Réunion,” the researchers wrote. “In the absence of systematic screening of donors for chikungunya virus, cornea donation should be banned in areas where chikungunya virus circulates.”
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