Conjunctivitis and several other eye disease or infections are at a peak in Delhi, leading to warnings about its highly contagious nature by doctors and they have advised all to take extreme precautions.
According to doctors they have been receiving several cases from the younger population of the city in both private and government hospitals. They have advised everyone to stay away from crowds to protect themselves from this. It is highly contagious and one should maintain proper hygiene.
Even in school teachers have advised all parents not to send their kids if they are suffering from the same so that it doesn’t spread to other students.
According to Nikhil Seth a senior consultant at Marengo, Asia Hospital said that this is a kind of flu and the most common reason for eye flu in rainy is because of the adeno virus family and they are considered the most contagious one. It usually spreads through physical contact; an unaffected person may contact the virus by coming in contact with some secretion from the infected person’s eye and then touching their eye. Unusual showers, flooding and an increase in moisture have led to a rise in the cases since all the bacteria and viruses thrive in this season due to the humidity and contamination in water, thus increasing the rate of cases affecting children more than adults.
According to the present data, one can see a 20-25 per cent rise in patients coming to OPD for the same. All the Delhi government-run hospitals are on a red alert to deal with the cases, these cases of conjunctivitis and skin allergy are mostly being reported from the relief camps housing people who were affected by the flood. AIIMS (All Indian Institute of medical science) is reporting 100 cases per day which is a lot.
As a precaution one should avoid touching their eyes when travelling, wash hand regularly before touching face, use clean tissues and wipes, do not share any sort of cosmetics or clothes with anyone. Wash your face frequently with cold water.
Some of the symptoms of eye flu are pain, redness, blurry vision, swelling, constant watering of the eyes and discharge from the eyes. One experiencing such symptoms immediately needs to visit the doctor and get treated. One should avoid going to crowd places and take extreme precautions by staying away from those who you know have caught the same, families suffering from this should avoid sending any of the members outside. This is the only way by which one can help in decreasing the rate of conjunctivitis.
