2023-10-08 17:15:45
The “pink eye epidemic” is sweeping parts of Asia and infecting thousands
The viral “pinkeye epidemic,” or conjunctivitis, has infected hundreds of thousands in Vietnam, India, and Pakistan; For months amid summer heat waves and record rainfall, infections have been rising, as health officials in many countries struggle to curb highly contagious pathogens that seem to thrive in high humidity.
By September, tens of thousands of schools in Vietnam, India and Pakistan were briefly closed in an emergency effort to stop the spread of the virus.
On one day last September in Punjab, Indian health officials counted 13,000 new cases of pink eye. This is according to what was reported by the scientific website “Science Alert”.
In Pakistan, the number of cases has reached nearly 400,000 people nationwide. Meanwhile, officials in Vietnam say they recorded more than 63,000 cases of viral conjunctivitis from January to September, an increase of more than 15 percent over the same period of the previous year.
While pink eye can be caused by bacteria or viruses, the virus version is particularly contagious. It can live on surfaces for 30 days, and spreads easily after rubbing the eye just once with a contaminated hand.
For further clarification, Isabelle Gilbert, an ophthalmologist and vision scientist at the University of New South Wales in Australia, told Newsweek, “Many different types of viruses can cause viral conjunctivitis (including the Covid-19 virus). However, the majority of cases of infectious conjunctivitis, up to 75 percent, are caused by adenoviruses. “The outbreak in Pakistan appears to involve a highly contagious form of the virus.”
Patients with conjunctivitis usually have one or two eyes affected. Symptoms include:
– Redness
– Eye pain
– Swelling of the eyelids
– Blurred vision
– Sensitivity to light
– Watery secretion.
Aside from frequent hand washing and disinfecting surfaces, there is not much that can be done to prevent the spread of the virus; There is no cure for pink eye, which means patients must simply wait two weeks or more for their immune system to fight off the virus.
In this context, staying at home during this time is necessary to avoid the spread of the disease on a larger scale in the community.
In severe cases, the cornea can become chronically inflamed, leading to long-term vision problems.
Although these cases are rare, hospital officials in Vietnam say that 20 percent of the cases they have seen in children involve serious complications.
Of note, recurrent conjunctivitis epidemics occur worldwide, but because this disease tends to follow a seasonal cycle, future outbreaks are likely to be vulnerable to climate changes.
Although there is a significant lack of research in this area, only a few studies have found that high temperatures are a risk factor for localized conjunctivitis. In 2023, research in China found that high humidity increases the risk of outpatient visits for conjunctivitis; While low relative humidity compared to temperature can also increase risks by causing dryness and irritation, air pollution likely plays a role as well.
In a rapidly changing world, it is more important than ever for governments to prepare for conjunctivitis virus outbreaks.
Educating the public about what symptoms to look for and how to isolate will be vital moving forward.
After an outbreak of conjunctivitis in India in 2022 amid heavy monsoons, experts wrote a letter to the Indian Journal of Ophthalmology calling for improved awareness of the disease and the provision of intensive health care services via telephone to help rural and remote communities.
It is important to remember that laxity of the government and health authorities and lack of awareness among the general public during “preventable” conjunctivitis outbreaks not only affects the well-being of patients and their caregivers, but also constitutes a major social problem.
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