Magnitude of Conjunctivitis as an Outbreak in a Tertiary Care Hospital of Dehradun

Background: Due to an outbreak of conjunctivitis in Uttarakhand, a large number of cases are being reported to hospitals for management. It was important to document it to learn about its characteristics. Through this study, we put forth the distribution and clinical features of the cases managed at a tertiary care hospital in Dehradun, contributing to the widespread event beyond the state of Uttarakhand. Material and Method: All cases were isolated from other patients and studied. Proper history, clinical features were recorded, managed with the optimum treatment and monitored for the requisite duration to learn the course and resolution. Data was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences, Chi-square and Fisher test. A P value less than .05 was considered significant. Results: The total number of new patients attending the eye out patient department (OPD) from 1st July to 31st October was 3,381. Out of these 172 patients (5.08%), some presented in one or both eyes. A 5.13% increase was observed in July and August, compared to 0.80% cases and the difference in decline was found to be statistically significant ( P value = .0001). The most significant age group affected was between 20 and 30 years of age. Most common clinical features of presentation were attributed to swelling of the eyes, redness and mucopurulent discharge, found to be statistically significant ( P < .0001). Conclusion: In our study, clinical features are considered to be non-specific for diagnosis, rapid onset and remission with antibiotic therapy could be suggestive of bacterial or even a mixed event of both viral and bacterial aetiology.