Cronicon OPEN ACCESS EC NEUROLOGY EC NEUROLOGY Mini Case Study Optic Neuritis and COVID-19 Vaccination: Is there any Association? Citation: Nemer Mohammad Nader Nemer Ali and Hamza Khaled Mohammad Al-Salhi. “Optic Neuritis and COVID-19 Vaccination: Is there any Association?”. EC Neurology 14.8 (2022): 44-45. Nemer Mohammad Nader Nemer Ali 1 * and Hamza Khaled Mohammad Al-Salhi 2 1 Department of Neurology, Stadt Klinikum Soest GmbH, Germany 2 Medical Student, Hashemite University, Jordan *Corresponding Author: Nemer Mohammad Nader Nemer Ali, Department of Neurology, Stadt Klinikum Soest GmbH, Germany. Received: July 25, 2022; Published: July 29, 2022 Introduction Generally, Optic neuritis (ON) can be defined as an acute optic neuropathy, which could be categorized into demyelating, or idiopathic. This means, it can present as an isolated disorder, or as a part of Multiple Sclerosis (MS). However, optic neuritis can be considered as a complication following vaccine administration. Indeed, optic neuritis is one of the most common adverse ocular events associated with nine different vaccine types [1,2]. According to VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System), there are a wide variety of reported adverse events related to the different types of COVID-19 vaccine. Of these reports, many cases developed blindness (either unilateral or bilateral), foreign body sensation in the eye, color blindness, conjunctivitis (allergic or inflammatory), and other ocular events [1-4]. Most of these ocular events could be related to optic neuritis as a presenting symptom. We will focus in this article on reported cases of optic neuritis following COVID-19 vaccine, are these cases similar to demyelinating/idiopathic optic neuritis, regarding symptoms, affected age group, diagnosis and prognosis? Results Post-COVID-19 vaccination optic neuritis can occur as a part of the syndrome; post-vaccination central nervous system inflammatory syndrome [5]. The underlying mechanism is not well understood yet, however, molecular mimicry between viral protein particles and my- elin basic proteins, and other mechanisms are suggested [1,6,7]. This is thought to affect patients with underlying demyelination diseases [5]. However, Post-COVID-19 vaccination optic neuritis was reported in a healthy adult without any significant medical history [8]. Interest- ingly, patients who developed this complication are predominantly females, and within the typical age group (3 rd to 5 th decade), although some patients in the extremities of age are affected as well [4,8,9]. Their symptoms are sudden visual loss, progressive blurry vision and pain exacerbated with ocular movements [4,5,8,9]. The examination and imaging findings were consistent with MS-Associated optic neuritis. Ad- ditionally, almost all affected patients improved well and restored complete vision in the affected eye with intravenous methylprednisolone 1g within less than a week. All these ideas suggest a close similarity between COVID-19 optic neuritis, and multiple sclerosis/idiopathic type. Conclusion Since there is no any biological marker which proves that post-COVID-19 vaccination optic neuritis is caused by the vaccine itself, we cannot clearly realize this as an association. However, clinicians must be aware of this complication, and further studies are required to demonstrate further information related to post-vaccination central nervous system inflammatory syndrome. Bibliography 1. Eleiwa TK., et al. “Adverse Ocular Events following COVID-19 Vaccination”. Inflammation Research 70.10-12 (2021): 1005-1009. 2. Cheng JY and Margo CE. “Ocular adverse events following vaccination: overview and update”. Survey of Ophthalmology 67.2 (2022): 293-306.