Bengaluru: Conjunctivitis, a viral eye infection that spreads through contact, has become a lot more common of late. The last few weeks have seen a spurt in conjunctivitis cases in the city. This is causing concern in eye hospitals.
This eye disease, which formerly occurred in summer, is no longer following a seasonal pattern and surprisingly many people are falling victim to this ailment at this time of the year.
"The pattern of conjunctivitis has changed over the years. We have noticed that this eye disease is no longer affecting people during summer and there are far more cases now," informs Dr TK Ramesh, Medical Superindent of government-run Minto Eye Hospital. He says that Minto Eye Hospital is seeing around 40 patients with conjunctivitis every day.
Opthalmologist Dr K Bhujang Shetty, head of Narayana Nethralaya says, "On a normal day earlier we used to see only 8-10 cases but it has more than doubled now.
Daily, on an average, our hospital is witnessing almost twenty cases, which is most certainly a worrying trend and people are advised to strictly maintain hand hygiene."
Speaking about the reason for this seasonal shift, Dr Shetty adds, “We cannot find any specific reason for this change over the years, but the trend has most certainly changed.”
Dr Ravi Krishna, Phaco Refractive Surgeon at Vasan eye hospital, says that he sees around five to ten cases every day and that the self-limiting disease has more nuisance value than any other disease.
"Now we see numerous conjunctivitis cases during winter as well," adds Dr Ravi. “People are advised to maintain eye hygiene along with washing of hands.
Those in contact with patients should avoid rubbing their eyes as this disease has a tendency to spread through contact, with the fluid from the eye being highly contagious,” warns Dr Ramesh.
Dr Ramesh has another word of caution. “Patients should avoid self-medication and seek professional help. We have come across cases where people use steroid eye drops, which if used without medical supervision can cause damage to the eyes.”
