- The most common cause of "pink eye".
- Self limiting disease.
- Clinical features:
- Very acute and highly infectious external eye infection caused
by Adenovirus type 8 and 19.
- The spectrum of the disease could be from mild and inapparent,
to full blown cases.
- Symptoms:
- Foreign body sensation, photophobia, conjunctival hyperemic,
eyelid stuck together in the morning, eyelid edema and sero-fibrinous
discharge
- Ocular symptoms commonly preceded by systemic symptoms of
fever, sore throat and sometimes gastrointestinal disturbances
- Signs:
- Acute onset of unilateral, followed by bilateral papillary
and follicular reaction
- Bilateral tender and enlarged preauricular lymph node
- Diffuse epithelial punctate keratitis end erosions over
the central cornea appear during the first or second week
of the disease
- The epithelial lesions gradually coalesce and form coarse
spots of subepithelial infiltrates
- These small-rounded subepithelial opacities may persist
for weeks, months or even years
- The first affected eye usually will suffer from relatively
more prominent and prolonged keratitis than the fellow eye
- Pseudomembrane formation may occur and can be complicated
with conjunctival scarring and symblepharon
- The viruses can be readily spreaded by finger to eye contact,
therefore hand washing and proper disinfection of instruments
after contact with any patient suspected of having EKC are mandatory.
- Management:
- Symptomatic relief with artificial tears and systemic analgesic
maybe required.
- Topical corticosteroids and cycloplegic are useful in patients
with marked iritis and central corneal subepithelial infiltrates.
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