So it is the Apollo season here in Ghana and the condition has been spreading widely for the past few weeks, I have seen a lot of patients coming to the hospital with this condition for the past few weeks and it seems to get worse. And so for a while now I decided to focus my attention on this condition to educate Hiver on what it is all about.
@nattybongoWe have learned about the etiology, the pathophysiology, the management, and some tips we could adopt to evade the condition However much like any epidemic there tend to be stigmatizations with it especially when people do not understand what they are seeing or experiencing and this brings about a whole lot of cooked up ideas that when not control could act like truth but may not be so.
And so for today, I would like to talk about a few myths that I heard from my patients which I tried to correct and I do hope that this knowledge becomes useful to a reader or a reader's friend or neighbor. I hope you enjoy the read, Without much ado let's dive in...
Apollo Myths
- Airborne; Acute Hemorrhagic Conjunctivitis as it is rightfully known among healthcare providers or locally "apollo" is a communicable condition, which means that it is highly contagious or infections however it is not spread through air only through physical contact where one introduces it directly to the eye from an infected person.
I have had lots of patients come in and claim that they met a friend who had the condition and after the friend looked into their eyes they started getting symptoms of the condition and now they are infected. Most often you may have had some form of physical contact with them and may have touched your eye even after they had left and that could be how you got it.
- I've never had an eye condition before so I can't get it; these very special individuals believe that they are either superhuman or so divinely favored they cannot contract the condition. I am not against religion or faith, no, because I am a Christian however that is not a reason not to do the needful for your ocular health.
@nattybongoApollo wouldn't necessarily avoid you because you know God and neither would you be immune because you may not have ever experienced any ocular condition since you were born or never contracted Apollo ever since you knew about its seasonal outbreaks. We are not immune and even when you have had it you could get it again in the subsequent years, Just protect yourself and do the needful as directed by your Optometrist.
- Every red eye has Apollo; unfortunately the majority of Ghanaians especially those that fall within the illiterates category tend to believe that every eye that they see that appears red is Apollo. And it gets worse when it is during a time like this. You can never be too safe however we must come to this understanding.
Not every red eye you see is Apollo, there are a thousand and one reasons why the eyes could become red even if we are in the Apollo season so please be hesitant in judging and leave the diagnosing to the primary eyecare practitioner while protecting yourself, as I said, you never know.
Conclusion
I would continue to come your way with all the interesting gist and facts and enlightening things about the eye and our ocular health in general however I do hope that you enjoyed or at least found what I had to share with you today fascinating.
@nattybongoIt is always a pleasure, thanks for your time, and while I leave you please remember to avoid over-the-counter drugs with proper diagnosis and care and when in doubt always speak to a professional. Remember the purpose of these writeups is to educate and not self-medicate. Until next time, ciao and have a blissful week.
Further Reading
Langford, M. P., Sebren, A. R., Burch, M. A., & Redens, T. B. (2020). Methylene Blue Inhibits Acute Hemorrhagic Conjunctivitis Virus Production and Induction of Caspase-3 Mediated Human Corneal Cell Cytopathy. Clinical ophthalmology (Auckland, N.Z.), 14, 4483–4492. https://doi.org/10.2147/OPTH.S275762.
Liu, J., & Zhang, H. (2022). Epidemiological Investigation and Risk Factor Analysis of Acute Hemorrhagic Conjunctivitis in Huangshi Port District, Huangshi City. Computational and mathematical methods in medicine, 2022, 3009589. https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/3009589.
Zhang, L., Guo, X., Jiang, H., Zhao, N., Cheng, W., Xu, W., & Liu, S. (2022). Decreased incidence of acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis associated with enhanced public health intervention during the COVID-19 epidemic in China, 2020. Archives of virology, 167(2), 577–581. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-021-05282-w.
Liu, R., Chen, Y., Liu, H., Huang, X., & Zhou, F. (2022). Epidemiological trends and sociodemographic factors associated with acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis in mainland China from 2004 to 2018. Virology journal, 19(1), 34. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12985-022-01758-6.