Services for Children

viral conjunctivitis

What is infectious conjunctivitis?

Infections can be caused by a virus, bacteria, fungus, or parasite; in the US of A, almost all infectious are viral or bacterial.  Viruses are just of pieces of DNA or RNA – a virus is not an independent life form and can only reproduce when it hijacks our cells and tells them to make more virus.  Bacteria are independent life forms, and live outside of our cells, which make them better targets for medication.  By definition, antibiotics kill (or suppress) life.  Almost all of the antibiotics that you are probably familiar with are anti-bacterials – these medicines do nothing against viruses.   Anti-virals can diminish (suppress) an infection, at best, and the only anti-virals routinely used are those that suppress HIV (the virus that causes AIDS) and HSV (herpes).
Just like the common cold, most cases of infectious conjunctivitis are caused by viruses.  There are no anti-biotics available for the viruses that cause this type of infection.  While this may be cruel and unfair, this is the state of reality in medicine today.  

What to do for viral conjunctivitis:

A. First, and most important, is to understand that less is more.  If you pour “some eye drop” onto an eye with a viral infection, you are likely to get the side-effects of the medicine, but none of the benefit you would like.  Just like any other cold, viral conjunctivitis has to run its course.There is no effective medicine available to make the infection go away.                            

B. While we can not make the infection go away, we can make the eyes more comfortable.   Over the past 5 years (or so) a new class of antihistamine eyedrops has come to market – these medications are very safe and usually effective in improving the symptoms of all forms of conjunctivitis.  Cold compresses (applied as often as desired) will also help the patient feel better.                        

C. Contact precautions are very important, too. People with infectious conjunctivitis have are infectious!   To minimize the risk of giving the infection to family members, friends, and school mates, the patient should be discouraged from touching her eyes – while this is easy to say (and very hard to do, especially with a young child), if the patient must touch their eyes, they should use a tissue which is then thrown away.   Also, our pink eyed friend should have a change of pillowcases every day, a new towel every day (not to be shared with anyone), and she should be kept out of school until she starts to “look better” (typically 3 to 5 days after the eyes first become red) – being kept out of school/day care is especially important with younger children, as they have no understanding of their contagion (and limited impulse control).