Prelude...
In the year 1969, the Apollo XI spacecraft was launched and it became international news, during this same period an outbreak of an eye condition occurred in Ghana, the disease was highly contagious and quite painful and uncomfortable.
About the international event that was happening at that time, the condition was given the name "Apollo" by the locals, and to this day this name has stuck. Many people now attribute a lot of eye conditions to Apollo when they see any form of conjunctivitis although it might not be so.
The actual or clinical name for this condition is known as acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis, in a little while you will come to understand why that name is. Many individuals are unfamiliar with this name, so Apollo is used even by professionals.
Apollo is a seasonal condition, and for a while, it has been coming over to the hospital a lot. So I decided to use this opportunity to share some insights on it. I do hope that you enjoy the read and that you learn a thing or two. Cheers!
Acute Hemorrhagic Conjunctivitis
Just as the name suggests, it is an inflammatory condition of the conjunctiva (the transparent membrane overlying the sclera or white part of the eye). It's acute because it occurs as soon as one is infected, thus within 24 hours of infection or contact with an infected person and getting the virus onto the eye.
The condition results in the breaking of the vessels of the conjunctiva resulting in bleeding within the subconjunctiva, This results in the extreme redness seen on the eyes of individuals with the condition and the breakage of the vessels add to the pain and discomfort that comes with having the condition.
Condition is caused by an enterovirus which falls under the picorna viruses, As already mentioned it is only transmitted via physical contact. Aside from the pain and the redness easily seen on the eye even from a distance, individuals with the condition may also experience blurriness with their vision especially when their cornea is affected which happens in some of the cases.
Some individuals may also experience foreign body sensations throughout their period of infection with some amount of burning sensation and tearing, some others may get the upper lids swelling.
Due to the highly contagious nature, it becomes very pertinent that we stay alert during these periods of outbreak and protect ourselves or put in place safety measures to keep ourselves from getting infected. It is recommended that we put in the COVID-19 measures to reduce the rate of spread, avoiding physical contact, frequent use of sanitizers, and observing personal hygiene generally.
Postlude
There's some good news regarding the condition though, the condition is self-limiting means even if you should leave it alone the eye will fight it on its own and things should start to subside in a maximum of about a week however to prevent opportunistic bacteria from joining in and making things worse it becomes pertinent that you go for an eye examination and medication to help ease the recovery process.
@nattybongoYou may be given some antibiotics for your eye as well as some lubricants, Your doctor would most likely add some analgesics to ease your pain and discomfort and would review you in about a week by which time it would be expected to have resolved. Please note that the purpose of this write-up is not so you can self-medicate but to educate and encourage you on healthy eye practices and the need to have your eyes checked. It is a pleasure serving you once again and I do hope you have an amazing weekend.
Further Reading
Wright, P. W., Strauss, G. H., & Langford, M. P. (1992). Acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis. American family physician, 45(1), 173–178..
Lévêque, N., Huguet, P., Norder, H., & Chomel, J. J. (2010). Les Enterovirus responsables de conjonctivite aiguë hémorragique [Enteroviruses responsible for acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis]. Medecine et maladies infectieuses, 40(4), 212–218. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.medmal.2009.09.006.
Zhang, L., Zhao, N., Huang, X., Jin, X., Geng, X., Chan, T. C., & Liu, S. (2017). Molecular epidemiology of acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis caused by coxsackie A type 24 variant in China, 2004-2014. Scientific reports, 7, 45202. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep45202.
Burr, S. E., Sillah, A., Joof, H., Bailey, R. L., & Holland, M. J. (2017). An outbreak of acute haemorrhagic conjunctivitis associated with coxsackievirus A24 variant in The Gambia, West Africa. BMC research notes, 10(1), 692. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13104-017-3007-9.