Acute conjunctivitis through a public health lens: a review | [Biomedica • 2024]

Author(s):

1. Saadia Maqbool: Department of Community Medicine, Lahore Medical and Dental College, Lahore, Pakistan.

2. Hina Shan: Department of Community Medicine, Lahore Medical and Dental College, Lahore, Pakistan.

3. Seema Daud: Department of Community Medicine, Lahore Medical and Dental College, Lahore, Pakistan.

4. Umbreen Navied: Department of Community Medicine, Lahore Medical and Dental College, Lahore, Pakistan.

5. Humayun Mirza: Department of Community Medicine, Lahore Medical and Dental College, Lahore, Pakistan.

Abstract:

Worldwide, conjunctivitis (pink eye) outbreaks are common and aefct people of all ages and socioeconomic backgrounds. The data available on Google Scholar, PubMed, World Health Organisation and Centre for Disease Control websites from the year 2014 onwards, showed that outbreaks typically have a seasonal trend in Pakistan. Pink eye outbreaks negatively impact education and productivity because of the lost time at work and school. The cases can be categorised into infectious and non-infectious conjunctivitis depending on the etiology. The most common and most contagious type of infectious conjunctivitis is viral conjunctivitis. The condition is marked by eye pain, redness or swelling of the eye, itching, discharge from the eyes and a grity feeling. It oeftn has a self-limiting course. The outbreak in Pakistan which started in September 2023, has several contributing factors, including hot, humid weather, a low air quality index, litle rainfall, inadequate hand hygiene practices and densely populated areas. Eefctive management requires a prompt diagnosis and appropriate treatment for the underlying cause. Outbreak control measures include public health initiatives like awareness campaigns, surveillance, notifcation and epidemiological investigation. Through the public health lens, this article reviews the etiology, epidemiology, clinical presentation, factors associated with outbreaks, surveillance, prevention and control measures.

Page(s): 153-158

DOI: 10.24911/BioMedica/5-1165

Published: Journal: Biomedica, Volume: 40, Issue: 4, Year: 2024

Keywords:

Conjunctivitis , Prevention , outbreak , Public health , eye infection , Pink Eye

References:

[1] Amjad SS,Memon H,Soomro SR,Qamar MA,Anjum MU,Hasanain M .2024 .Outbreak of conjunctivitis in South Asia: a landscape of current situation and rapid review of literature. IJCMCR, 39(2) : 1-5.

[2] Alfonso SA,Fawley JD,Lu XA. Conjunctivitis. Prim,Care XA. Conjunctivitis. Prim .2015 .. , 05(3) : 325-45.

[3] Mokbul MI,Islam KA,Tabassum MN,Nur FB,Sharmin S. .2022 .Recent incidence of infectious conjunctivitis in Bangladesh: are we aware?. Ann Med Surg, 84 : 1-4.

[4] Ferres JM,Meirick T,Lomazow W,Lee CS,Lee AY,Lee MD .2021 .Association of public health measures during the COVID-19 pandemic with the incidence of infectious conjunctivitis. JAMA Ophthalmol, 140(1) : 43-9.

[5] Muto T,Imaizumi S,Kamoi K. .2023 .Viral conjunctivitis. Viruses, 15(3) : 676.

[6] Ahmed A,Irfan H,Islam MA .2024 .Unraveling the conjunctivitis crisis: understanding the spiking incidence in Karachi and Lahore-Pakistan. Ann Med Surg, 86(2) : 920-2.

[7] Alshehri RA,Alghamdi AF,Aboalam AM,Ghazi D,Felemban M,Al_Mani SY .2020 .-an-overview-ondifferentials-etiologies-and-management-approach. J Biochem Tech, 11(2) : 135.

[8] Sahdev AK,Sethi B,Singh A,Sharma N,Purwar S.,Conjunctivitis S. .2018 .: types, diagnosis and treatment under different therapies. Asian J Pharm Pharmacol, 4(4) : 7-8.

[9] Kathrada F. A .2019 .'look' into conjunctivitis. S Afr Fam Pract, 61(4) : 6-10.

[10] Fang X,Bennett N,Ierano C,James R,Thursky K. .2022 .Ophthalmic antimicrobial prescribing in Australian healthcare facilities. Antibiotics, 11(5) : 647.

[11] Haider SA,Jamal Z,Ammar M,Hakim R,Salman M,Umair M. .2023 .Genomic insights into the 2023 outbreak of acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis in Pakistan: identification of Coxsackievirus A24 variant through next generation sequencing. medRxiv [Preprint], : .

[12] Kumar VK,Srivastava AK,Kamble PN,Makhija P .2019 .Safety and efficacy of ayurvedic interventions in the management of conjunctivitis: a protocol for a systematic review. J Res Ayurvedic Sci, 3(2) : 64-7.

[13] Shukla D,Tripathi AK,Pandey S,Kumari M,Dwivedi M .2024 .Dubey A. A systematic study on social-environmental risk variables for bacterial and viral conjunctivitis. Rev Electron Vet, 25(1S) : 220-28.

[14] Math SS,Rauth SG .2019 .Study of organisms isolation from acute bacterial conjunctivitis cases. Indian J Clin Exp Ophthalmol, 5(3) : 318-21.

[15] Fatima T,Malik FR,Ahmed A,Khan E,Shakoor S. .2021 .Spectrum of bacterial conjunctivitis in Southern Pakistan: 10-year retrospective review of laboratory data. Biomed Biotechnol Res J, 165(1) : 20-42.

[16] Arej N,Irani C,Abdelmassih Y,Slim E,Antoun J,Bejjani R .2018 .Evaluation of allergic sensitization in Lebanese patients with allergic conjunctivitis. Int ophthalmol, 38(5) : 2041-51.

[17] Ali SA,Ali S,Jahan I .2023 .Allergies to infections: understanding the spectrum of conjunctivitis. Int J Pharm Drug Design, 1(1) : 46-56.

[18] Jhanji V,Chan TC,Li EY,Agarwal K,Vajpayee RB .2015 .Adenoviral keratoconjunctivitis. Surv Ophthalmol, 04(5) : 435-43.

[19] Ghebremedhin B .2014 .Human adenovirus: viral pathogen with increasing importance. Eur J Microbiol Immunol, 1(1) : 2-33.

[20] Oduoye MO,Furqan M,Ubechu SC,Ahmad AI,Saeed H .2023 .Pink eye is at it again in Pakistan; is it a condition to be worried about. IJS Glob Health, 6(6) : .

[21] Jandan NA,Khan NA,Jamali MA,Abbasi AA .2022 .Prevalence of bacterial conjunctivitis and allergic conjunctivitis in Pakistan. Pak J Med Health Sci, 16(3) : 359-60.

[22] Abideen ZU,Sohail A,Perveen I,Faridi TA,Ayyub H .2021 .Frequency of conjunctivitis among farmers of district Vehari, Punjab, Pakistan: Conjuntivitis among farmers of Vehari. , 4(1) : 69-8.

[23] Haidar A,Sharif J,Nadeem A,Perveen A,Muazzam A,Naveed A .2024 .Bacterial conjunctivitis: clinical features, types and complications; a systematic review. Adv Res Med Health Sci, 2(1) : 1-9.

[24] Bielory L,Delgado L,Katelaris CH,Leonardi A,Rosario N,Vichyanoud P.,ICON P. .2019 .: diagnosis and management of allergic conjunctivitis. AnnAllergyAsthmaImmunol, 11(2) : 118-34.

[25] Yeu E,Hauswirth S. .2020 .A review of the differential diagnosis of acute infectious conjunctivitis: implications for treatment and management. Clin Ophthalmol, 14 : 805-13.

[26] Patil PP,Shaikh AA,Pote V,Jawalage P,Raut S. “ .2024 .Eye flu: your eyes need attention-medicines for eye flu”!. World J Pharm Res, 13(9) : 32053-118.

[27] Mahadik S,Sharma M. .2024 .Conjunctivitis: a guide of etiology, morphology, care, and prevention. Central India J Med Res, 3(1) : 147-5.

[28] Iqbal T,Altaf S. .2023 ./ b i o l o g i ca l t i m e s . co m / w p - co nte nt / u p l o a d s / j o u r n a l / published. Biol Times, 2(12) : 70-1.

[29] Kumar H,Kumar R,Sood P,Belwal R,Upadhyay J,Naaz F .2023 .A review on most opthalmic viral disease conjunctivitis (eye flu). J Res Appl Sci Biotechnol, 2(4) : 13-00.

[30] Mahoney MJ,Bekibele R,Notermann SL,Reuter TG,Borman-Shoap EC .2023 .Pediatric conjunctivitis: a review of clinical manifestations, diagnosis, and management. Children, 10(5) : 808-17.

[31] Honkila M,Koskela U,Kontiokari T,Mattila ML,Kristo A,Valtonen R .2022 .Effect of topical antibiotics on duration of acute infective conjunctivitis in children: a randomized clinical trial and a systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Netw, 5(10) : .

[32] .2017 .Epidemiological update, conjunctivitis. , : .

[33] Mohanty B,Chughtai A,Rabhi F .2019 .Use of Mobile Apps for epidemic surveillance and response-availability and gaps. Glob Biosecurity, 1(1) : 37-49.

[34] Ohannessian R. Telemedicine .2015 .: potential applications in epidemic situations. Eur Res Telemed/Rech Eur Téléméd, 08(3) : 95-8.

[35] Johari Moghadam MM,Mohamad Yari M,Azizi Jalilian F,Amini R,Bazzazi N.,Optom Clin .2019 .Epidemiology and molecular diagnosis of acute conjunctivitis in patients attending Hamadan, west Iran ophthalmology clinics 2016-2017. , 11 : 105-11.

Citations

Downloads

Views