‘Coxsackievirus A24’ behind pink eye outbreak

ISLAMABAD: The National Institute of Health (NIH) has identified ‘Coxsackievirus A24’ responsible for the ongoing pink eye or conjunctivitis outbreak in the country, saying the virus causes ‘mild to moderate’ viral infection, which is self-limiting and ‘not a serious health concern’.

“We collected three samples from different areas of Islamabad and the lab confirmed that the people who had conjunctivitis were infected with Coxsackievirus A24.

This virus is responsible for the current conjunctivitis outbreak in Pakistan,” Dr. Muhammad Salman, Executive Director NIH, told The News.

Caretaker Federal Health Minister Dr. Nadeem Jan has felicitated the NIH for identifying the virus that has already caused such outbreaks in the world and advised people not to panic and take precautionary measures.

Coxsackievirus A24 is a highly contagious virus and it spreads when an infected person coughs or sneezes.

Dr. Salman said Coxsackievirus was not among the 34-35 reportable diseases but keeping in view the growing number of conjunctivitis cases across Pakistan during last few weeks, they decided to check the origin of the outbreak and collected three samples from three different locations, whose analysis indicated that it was Coxsackievirus A24 responsible for the conjunctivitis in the country.

“We have seen this virus causing conjunctivitis in 80s, 90s and during the last two decades but this is not a serious health concern.

This virus spreads through contact so people should avoid shaking hands and using personal items of the infected persons,” he said, adding that it caused a self-limiting disease, needing no drug, especially antibiotics, for treatment.

Renowned ophthalmologist (eye specialist) Dr. Misbah-ul-Aziz said they knew that some kind of virus was responsible for the conjunctivitis outbreak in the country and now the NIH had confirmed that it was Coxsackievirus A24.