• Eye redness, myalgia and diarrhea in elderly following COVID-19 infection
  • Nooshin Eyvazzadeh,1 Arash Letafati,2,* Amirhossein Gharehkhani,3 Elnaz Khodadoust Soufiani,4 Zahra Zargari,5 Fatemeh Zargari,6
    1. Department of Medical Bacteriology, Faculty of Medicine, Qazvin University of Medical Science, Qazvin, Iran
    2. Department of Virology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
    3. Department of Medical Laboratory Science, Faculty of Para Medicine, Islamic Azad University, Tehran Medical Branch, Tehran, Iran
    4. Department of Medical Laboratory Science, Faculty of Para Medicine, Islamic Azad University, Tehran Medical Branch, Tehran, Iran
    5. Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Basic Sciences, Karaj Branch Islamic Azad University, Karaj, Iran


  • Introduction: In humans, viruses cause respiratory infections that are usually mild, including the common cold, or sometimes it can be fatal. The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) occurred in Wuhan, China was more expansive than initially estimated, with cases now confirmed in several countries. Therefore, it is crucial to determine the clinical symptoms of COVID-19 in different age groups.
  • Methods: This study evaluated the presence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in 219 throat and nasal swab samples using Real-time PCR. All samples were collected from people with respiratory symptoms who went to the grand bazaar.
  • Results: Of 219 patients examined, 19 (8.6%) positive cases out of 219 for SARS-CoV-2 were found by using Real-time PCR. Among these 19 positive cases of SARS-CoV-2, 6 (2.7%) were under 5, 3 (1.3%) were between 5-18, 4 (1.8%) were between 18-50 and 6 (2.7%) were over 50 years old respectively. Most common symptoms in positive group was cough and despite other age groups, in patients over 50 years old, myalgia and diarrhea was common.
  • Conclusion: It seems that SARS-CoV-2 symptoms can vary in different age groups but unlike other age groups, in elderly, uncommon symptoms like eyes redness, myalgia and diarrhea seems is seen following COVID-19 infection.
  • Keywords: Respiratory Tract Infection, Diarrhea, Myalgia, COVID-19, Eye redness