Conjunctivities Cases Surge Across India: Symptoms, Precautions And More

Health: Conjunctivities, an infection of the eye resulting in pink eyes or eye redness with sticky discharge, is concerning the health experts not just in Delhi, but states like Maharashtra, Kerala are witnessing spike in eye flue.

As the Delhi Government has issued an advisory for all private and government schools in view of the rising numbers of the eye infection, The Quotes spoke to Dr Digvijay Singh, Department Head of Ophthalmology, Madhukar Rainbow Childrens Hospital, in New Delhi to understand every minute detail of the infection.

Q) What is Conjunctivities?

Conjunctivitis also sometimes known as eye flu is an infection of the eye resulting in pink eyes or eye redness with sticky discharge l. It is an external infection of the eye and has a high risk of transmission from fomites (person to person contact).

Q) How grave conjunctivities can be for patients?

Conjunctivitis can lead to loss of work days due to severe eye inflammation, irritation, watering and sensitivity to light.

The rapid spread often implies that the whole family gets affected. While in most cases it will resolve with no permanent damage to the eye, in a few cases it can cause infections of the cornea and some permanent vision loss and persistent dryness.

Q) What are early symptoms of conjunctivities?

The early symptoms of conjunctivitis are important to identify as early treatment can decrease the severity of disease and allow the patient to take precautions and prevent further spread of disease.

The early symptoms include:

Redness of eyes

Irritation or pricking sensation of something fallen in eyes

Watering

Sticky yellowish or cream coloured discharge

And eyelid swelling.

Sometimes sensitivity to light or breeze can be an early symptom too.

Q) Precautions from conjunctivities:

Do not touch your eyes

Do not share towels etc. with anyone having conjunctivitis.

Important Message if you are suffering with conjunctivities

Conjunctivitis does not spread by looking into the eyes of an infected person but if that person touches his or her eyes and then touches something and then you touch that object and touch your eyes, you are likely to get the infection.

Wearing dark glasses is only helpful in preventing light sensitivity and to create a barrier to prevent touching your eye again and again.

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