Herpes simplex virus retinitis following ChAdOx1 nCoV- 19 (Covishield) vaccination for SARS CoV 2: A case report

ABSTRACT

Purpose

To report a case of herpes simplex virus retinitis following ChadOx1 nCoV-19 (covishield) vaccination.

Case report

A 29 year old immunocompetent male presented with unilateral disc edema with adjacent retinitis two days after receiving the first dose of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccination. Extensive investigations to rule out infective etiology were negative except for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of the vitreous specimen which was positive for the herpes simplex virus. A diagnosis of herpes simplex (HSV) retinitis post covid vaccination was made. The patient responded well to oral antivirals and steroids.

Conclusion

HSV retinitis is a rare complication following the COVID-19 vaccination.

KEYWORDS:

• Covid vaccine
• HSV retinitis
• covishield vaccine
• ChAdOx1 nCoV-19
• viral retinitis
• Post covid vaccine complication.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported that there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.