{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,19]],"date-time":"2026-08-19T18:59:35Z","timestamp":1787165975196,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":11,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,8,5]],"date-time":"2022-08-05T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1659657600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Public Health"],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>On February 2, 2020, the head of a visually impaired school notified similar eye symptoms among the students. We investigated the cluster to confirm the diagnosis, identify potential exposures, and propose recommendations.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methodology<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>We defined a case as redness\/watering\/discharge from any eye among the students and staff, January\u2013February 2020. We actively searched for the cases and calculated attack rates. We drew epicurve by date of symptoms onset. We conducted a retrospective cohort study of students and staff. We collected data on potential exposures and calculated Risk Ratio (RR), 95% Confidence Interval (95%CI), and Population Attributable Risk (PAR). We sent a conjunctival swab of the three cases for microbiological analysis.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      We diagnosed the cases as acute conjunctivitis and identified 39 (76%) cases among 51 individuals. All the 39 cases reported watering and redness; 28 (72%) and 12 (31%) reported eye pain and discharge, respectively. The median age of the case was 11 years (range: 6\u201348 years). The attack rate didn't differ significantly between males [77% (20\/26)] and females [76% (19\/25),\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      = 0.9]. The attack rate was higher among the students [86%, (38\/44)] than staffs [14%, (1\/7),\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      = &amp;lt;0.01]. Contact with a case [RR = 2.5, 95%CI = 1.3\u20134.8, PAR = 51%] and staying inside campus [RR = 6.0, 95%CI = 1.0\u201337.3, PAR = 81%] were associated with the acute conjunctivitis outbreak. All the three conjunctival swabs were negative for bacterial growth.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Close contact with the case and staying inside the campus led to the outbreak of acute conjunctivitis among the students and staff of the visually impaired school.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2022.978200","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,8,5]],"date-time":"2022-08-05T02:39:16Z","timestamp":1659667156000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":13,"title":["Case report: An outbreak of viral conjunctivitis among the students and staff of visually impaired school, Tamil Nadu, India, 2020"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"10","author":[{"given":"Yazhini","family":"Madurapandian","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Polani","family":"Rubeshkumar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mohankumar","family":"Raju","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Aishwarya","family":"Janane","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Parasuraman","family":"Ganeshkumar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"T. S.","family":"Selvavinayagam","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Prabhdeep","family":"Kaur","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,8,5]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","unstructured":"Viral conjunctivitis\n            SolanoD\n            FuL\n            CzyzCN\n          Treasure Island, FLStatPearls PublishingStatPearls2021"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1112","DOI":"10.1056\/NEJMoa022521","article-title":"An outbreak of conjunctivitis due to atypical streptococcus pneumoniae","volume":"348","author":"Martin","year":"2003","journal-title":"N Engl J Med."},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1148","DOI":"10.1086\/424522","article-title":"An outbreak of conjunctivitis due to a novel unencapsulated Streptococcus pneumoniae among military trainees","volume":"39","author":"Crum","year":"2004","journal-title":"Clin Infect Dis."},{"key":"B4","unstructured":"Outbreak of Bacterial Conjunctivitis at a College \u2014 New Hampshire January\u2013March 2002"},{"key":"B5","unstructured":"Principles of Epidemiology: Lesson 6 Section 2|Self-Study Course, SS1978|CDC.2020"},{"key":"B6","unstructured":"Investigating outbreaks: practical guidance in the Indian scenario2526\n            MurhekarM\n            MoolenaarR\n            HutinY\n            BroomeC\n          20334049Natl Med J India.222009"},{"key":"B7","volume-title":"Epi Info\u2122, a Database and Statistics Program for Public Health Professionals","author":"Dean","year":"2011"},{"key":"B8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"219","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijid.2020.05.007","article-title":"COVID-19 and religious congregations: Implications for spread of novel pathogens","volume":"96","author":"Quadri","year":"2020","journal-title":"Int J Infect Dis."},{"key":"B9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"126","DOI":"10.1177\/003335490812300205","article-title":"Measles outbreak associated with a church congregation: a study of immunization attitudes of congregation members","volume":"123","author":"Kennedy","year":"2008","journal-title":"Public Health Rep."},{"key":"B10","first-page":"1818","article-title":"Multiplex polymerase chain reaction for diagnosis of viral and chlamydial keratoconjunctivitis","volume":"41","author":"Elnifro","year":"2000","journal-title":"Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci."},{"key":"B11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"290","DOI":"10.1097\/ICU.0b013e3283477cb5","article-title":"Adenovirus advances: new diagnostic and therapeutic options","volume":"22","author":"Kaufman","year":"2011","journal-title":"Curr Opin Ophthalmol."}],"container-title":["Frontiers in Public Health"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpubh.2022.978200\/full","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2022,8,5]],"date-time":"2022-08-05T02:39:22Z","timestamp":1659667162000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpubh.2022.978200\/full"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,8,5]]},"references-count":11,"alternative-id":["10.3389\/fpubh.2022.978200"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fpubh.2022.978200","relation":{},"ISSN":["2296-2565"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2296-2565","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,8,5]]},"article-number":"978200"}}