Rise in Eye Flu Cases in Delhi-NCR How Can Children Avoid Conjunctivitis? Expert Justifies

There have been a lot of conjunctivitis instances recorded in Delhi-NCR as a result of the country’s capital and neighboring cities’ recent nonstop rainfall as well as the Yamuna River’s increasing water level.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, conjunctivitis is a common eye infection that results in inflammation of the conjunctiva, the tissues that line the eyelids. It is brought on by irritants, allergens, germs, and viruses like COVID-19, a coronavirus that causes the common cold.

Dr. Shailja Tibrewal, Senior Consultant, Pediatric Ophthalmology Department, Dr. Shroff Charity Eye Hospital, Daryaganj, exclusively discussed the reasons of the increase in conjunctivitis cases in children and prevention strategies with Jagran English. According to her, the majority of instances are viral in origin and manifest as abrupt start of redness, watering, a feeling of a foreign substance in the eye, and discharge in one eye, which may proceed to the other eye over time.

Conjunctivitis can cause a variety of symptoms, including redness in the white of your eye or inner eyelid, increased tearing, thick yellow discharge that crusts over your eyelashes, especially after sleeping, green or white discharge from your eye, gritty feeling in one or both eyes, itchy or burning eyes (especially in cases of pink eye brought on by allergies), blurred vision, increased sensitivity to light, swollen eyelids, and more.

Dr. Tibrewal claims that in addition to other eye symptoms, fever and general pains may also appear in youngsters with eye flu. It spreads by fomites as well as through direct contact with contaminated tears or ocular discharge.

How Can Eye Flu Be Prevented?
Dr. Tibrewal encourages parents to steer clear of bringing their kids to crowded areas and to routinely teach them to wash or sanitize their hands. Children should be warned not to touch their eyes and to keep away from anybody else who has red eyes.

After contracting eye flu, how can you prevent it?
Once you’ve had ocular flu, Dr. Tibrewal advised taking certain preventative steps to stop the infection from spreading. The precautionary measures comprise:

1. Keep your kid home from school for four to five days if they have eye flu. This will aid in halting the transmission of the eye flu to other persons.

2. Parents should instill in their kids appropriate eye hygiene habits such as not rubbing their eyes, wiping the discharge with an eye wipe or cotton, throwing away the contaminated wipe or cotton in a trash can, and washing their hands often in between.

3. Children should also be told not to touch the opposite eye after touching the afflicted eye if they have the eye illness.

4. To protect them against the flu, make sure your kids wear protective eyewear like glasses or goggles and keep them indoors and away from other people. It’s also crucial to consult with an eye doctor, who may provide prescriptions for drugs to treat the fever and body pains brought on by the eye virus as well as to soothe the eyes as they heal.