Oxidative contact lens disinfectants effectively inactivate COVID-19 surrogates
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BOSTON – Oxidative contact lens disinfection systems showed significant ability to inactivate two seasonal coronavirus surrogates for COVID-19, according to a study being presented at the American Academy of Optometry annual meeting.
“With COVID-19, several questions regarding its transmission have emerged, such as if it’s possible to get COVID-19 through ocular exposure,” Christiane L. Nogueira, PhD, from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, said during an academy-sponsored press conference. “Although ocular complications are not a frequent manifestation of coronavirus infections in humans, there are several studies showing that ocular exposure may represent a potential route of entry for SARS-CoV-2.”
Nogueira noted that, because of this, wearers of contact lenses may be at an increased risk for developing COVID-19, especially those who wear reusable contact lenses.
To assess the efficacy of contact lens care products against viruses, Nogueira and colleagues exposed the HCoV-229E and HCoV-OC43 coronaviruses to three nonoxidative systems and three oxidative systems for periods of 4 hours and 6 hours.
The nonoxidative products included Biotrue (Bausch + Lomb), Boston Simplus (Bausch + Lomb) and Opti-Free PureMoist (Alcon). The oxidative products included Clear Care (Alcon), cleadew and cleadew GP (Ophtecs).
For HCoV-229E, results showed that the nonoxidative systems did not show a significant log 10 reduction compared with the reductions seen in the oxidative system tests (all P < .001). Both cleadew and cleadew GP had a higher disinfection efficacy than Clear Care (all P .001).
Similarly for HCoV-OC43, the nonoxidative systems were not significantly effective, whereas the oxidative systems were (all P < .001).
“This study showed that nonoxidative disinfecting systems showed minimal to no ability to inactivate HCoV-229E and HCoV-OC43; however, oxidative disinfecting systems showed significant virucidal activity against HCoV-229E and HCoV-OC43,” Nogueira concluded.
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Nogueira C, et al. Antiviral activity of contemporary contact lens solutions against human seasonal coronavirus strains. Presented at: American Academy of Optometry annual meeting; Nov. 2-6, 2021.
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