Eye Epidemic

The eye disease called keratoconjunctivitis, something like pinkeye, which pinked 2,000 San Francisco Bay welders last January (TIME, Jan. 26), was still active last week, had spread to Schenectady war workers and Manhattan civilians. It produces only a slight temporary defect of vision, but that is a mishap in war effort. Physicians are worried because a person may give it to someone else before he knows he has it. The examining fingers of one Manhattan eye doctor accidentally picked up the infection, gave it to 100 patients, the doctor's' family and himself (a virus, which is not killed by ordinary precautions, is the probable cause of the disease).

Epidemic keratoconjunctivitis was described in last month's War Medicine by Drs. Michael J. Hogan and Joseph W. Crawford of San Francisco. Main characteristics: Small glands of the cheek and neck usually swell, and eyelid swelling may become extreme. When the swelling goes down after about three weeks, white spots may remain in the cornea, especially around the edges of the pupil. These vision disturbers take from one to three months to be absorbed. The disease is thought to be transmissible only by direct contact.

A cure is yet to be found--treatments in use are eyewashes and applications to reduce swelling. Drs. Hogan and Crawford published their article so that physicians, especially in areas like Detroit, which the disease has not yet reached, can learn to recognize it, isolate patients early to prevent further spreading.

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