Delhi is seeing 100+ conjunctivitis cases daily this monsoon. What to do if you get it

India has seen a massive rise in conjunctivitis case in the past few days. The viral eye infection also known as pink eye, has resulted in flooding of the Outpatient Departments (OPDs) in private and government hospitals. 

Delhi is reporting 100+ cases each day, says reports. Cases are also rising in Mumbai. Ever since the monsoon set in, the weather change has been behind the increase in eye infections.

What is pink eye or conjunctivitis?

Conjunctivitis is a highly contagious and infectious disease that leads to inflammation of the conjunctiva, the transparent layer covering the white part of the eye and the inner part of the eyelids.

The patient generally develops redness around either one eye or both. 

How it spreads

Transmission of conjunctivitis occurs through direct and indirect contact. Direct transmission happens through droplets of water, while indirect transmission occurs through droplets from coughing and sneezing.

DailyO spoke to an ophthalmologist, Dr Virendra Kumar Mishra, a consultant eye surgeon based in Lucknow. He said these are mainly cases of allergy more than an infection.

“This is more of an allergy due to weather change than an infection. There can be an infection in some cases, but the cases that we are seeing these days are because of allergy,” Dr Mishra said.

He said that the general line of treatment that ophthalmologists do is provide antibiotics eye drops with non-steroid anti-inflammatory pills.

How to cure it 

“If you are at home, you can purchase an eye drop, Moxicip KT, which is an antibiotic eye drop to treat conjunctivitis. If there is itching around the eye, you can also take an Allegra 120 pill,” Doctor Mishra said.

“However, if the irritation persists even after using antibiotics, one should see a doctor immediately,” he added.

Precautions

Dr Mishra said that the only thing you can do in terms of precaution is to maintain a distance from the patient.

“The patient should remain in isolation for some time to prevent it from spreading to others,” he said.