Cilioretinal Artery Obstruction as a Complication of Retinitis Caused by Chikungunya Virus

ABSTRACT

Purpose

The purpose of this case report is to describe the obstruction of cilioretinal artery in a patient with acute focal retinitis occurring due to Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) fever.

Case report

A 45-year-old female presented with sudden and unilateral visual impairment from 2 days, which was preceded by a flu-like syndrome 2 weeks before. Multimodal imaging revealed focal retinitis in both eyes, which was complicated by cilioretinal artery obstruction in the left eye. Laboratory examinations confirmed the diagnosis of CHIKV fever and showed positive results (anti-CHIKV IgM and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction). The patient was treated with oral steroids. Following which, the patient showed a limited visual and anatomical recovery in the affected eye.

Conclusions and importance

CHIKV fever has been currently associated with atypical manifestations. This indexed report describes a unique perspective on CHIKV focal retinitis, complicated by cilioretinal artery obstruction, further leading to limited visual recovery.

KEYWORDS:

• Arboviruses
• cilioretinal artery
• chikungunya virus
• chikungunya fever
• retinitis

Acknowledgments

We obtained written consent from the patient for the use of all information and images in this article. None of the information presented above violates the privacy of patient, and this information complies with the guidelines of HIPAA. All authors attest that they meet the current ICMJE criteria for authorship, received no financial support, and declare no conflict of interest concerning the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.