Friday, 04 AUGUST 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN
With conjunctivitis or eye flu cases rising across Uttarakhand, the State Health department issued an advisory to rein in such cases on Thursday. Releasing the guidelines, the State Health secretary R Rajesh Kumar said that he had issued necessary instructions to all the chief medical officers of the State. He asked them to ensure availability of all necessary medicines and take other preparations at the hospitals to prevent and control the spread of eye infection cases in their respective districts. “This is now a major public health problem which is caused by allergy, bacterial or viral infection. Aside from taking preventive measures, the CMOs should ensure that awareness programmes on conjunctivitis are organised in every district as this is a quite contagious infection,” he said.
The health secretary further said that if one finds eye flu symptoms he or she should immediately contact an eye specialist. “You should refrain from using any over- the -counter medicine or eye drops on your own as these may aggravate the infection,” he warned.
The most common symptoms of conjunctivitis as per the advisory are redness in eyes; itching, burning, blurred vision; watery discharge from eyes; sensitivity to light and swollen eyelids.
The greatest stress is laid on maintaining cleanliness to prevent the spread of the infection. One should be alert against touching eyes with hands and must have hands washed repeatedly. One should not share a towel, pillow and eye- cosmetics with anyone. Changing pillow covers and washing handkerchiefs and towels is an imperative to control spread of the infection. Besides, one should wear glasses before going out and avoid using contact lenses until the infection is completely healed.
