HEAD, EYE, EAR, NOSE, AND THROATEMERGENCIESCOMPLICATIONS
■ Chronic untreated →trachoma/scarring→corneal abrasions/scarring.
■ Risk for Chlamydia pneumonia
Viral Conjunctivitis
ETIOLOGY
■ Most common cause of conjunctivitis
■ Adenovirus is the most common etiology.
■ 50% with constitutional URI signs and symptoms
SYMPTOMS/EXAM
■ Itchy with foreign body sensation
■ Tearing (watery discharge), redness/conjunctival injection (see Figure 14.31)
■ Preauricular adenopathy
■ Usually bilateral due to self-inoculation
TREATMENT
■ Meticulous hygiene: Highly contagious
■ Self-limiting
■ Empiric topical antibiotics should be given to patients with conjunctivitis
of unclear etiology.
■ Ophthalmologic referral
Epidemic Keratoconjunctivitis
ETIOLOGY
Adenovirus types 8 and 19
FIGURE 14.31. Viral conjunctivitis.
(Reproduced, with permission, from Knoop KJ, Stack LB, Storrow AB. Atlas of Emergency
Medicine, 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2002:39.)