The immunologist urged to consult a doctor in case of visual impairment after the flu

Any visual impairment after suffering from the flu requires a medical examination. This was announced to Izvestia on December 22 by Nikolai Kryuchkov, an expert on public health, an immunologist, and a candidate of medical sciences.

"It can be blurred vision, difficulty focusing, eye fatigue, pain in the eyeballs or in the eye area. Intense redness, conjunctival hemorrhage and more severe disorders," he said.

The immunologist noted that some lesions can be painless. At the same time, a person may feel a loss of visual fields or a sharp drop in its acuity, double vision, difficulty focusing. When the retina of the eye is affected, perception becomes distorted — objects can change their shape and acquire bends that do not exist in reality.

"Influenza interacts with receptors on cells not only of the upper or lower respiratory tract, but also of the same nasolacrimal canal and lacrimal sacs. <...> Influenza and some other acute respiratory viral infections can infect the same eyeballs, that is, infection may not occur through the mouth or nose," the immunologist explained.

Kryuchkov added that anyone can have dry eye syndrome or conjunctivitis due to the flu. However, there is a risk of getting more serious complications. It increases in the presence of severe chronic diseases, as well as in the case of previously experienced episodes of uveitis — inflammation of the vascular membrane of the eye.

At the slightest visual impairment, the expert advised to consult a doctor for diagnosis. Timely medical care will help reduce the likelihood of serious consequences.

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But the pace began to decrease, Rospotrebnadzor said.

On December 22, Svetlana Mirgorodskaya, an ophthalmologist and ophthalmic surgeon at SM Clinic, Ph.D., reported that influenza A can affect vision, and in some cases, deterioration occurs not during the infection itself, but several days after the disease. According to the expert, this is primarily due to the post-viral immune response.

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