Ho Chi Minh City: The agent causing pink eye has been identified.

SGGPO September 8, 2023 12:31 PM

Enterovirus and adenovirus are the two main agents causing pink eye today, of which enterovirus is dominant (86%), while the previously common agent, adenovirus, only accounts for a small number (14%).

Children with pink eye examined at Children's Hospital 2

On September 8, a quick report on the research results of the laboratory of the Emerging Infectious Diseases Research Unit, a collaboration between the Hospital for Tropical Diseases and the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit (OUCRU), showed that enterovirus and adenovirus are the two main agents causing pink eye today, of which enterovirus is the dominant (86%), while the previously common agent, adenovirus, only accounts for a small number (14%).

Research results on 39 patients with pink eye (20 men, 19 women) including adults and children with an average age of 19.7 years (range: 4-64) who came to the Eye Hospital on September 7 for examination and sample collection. The patients came from 13 districts in Ho Chi Minh City and Thu Duc City, 5 people from Binh Duong, 2 people from Ba Ria Vung Tau, 1 person from Long An, 1 person from Tien Giang .

The collected specimens were sent to the laboratory of the Emerging Infectious Diseases Research Unit to perform multiplex PCR to detect adenovirus, enterovirus, metapneumovirus and parainfluenza viruses.

On September 8, after PCR analysis, the research team detected adenovirus in 5 patients, enterovirus in 32 patients, and 2 cases where the agent was not found. No cases tested positive for metapneumovirus or parainfluenza virus, and no cases of co-infection between enterovirus and adenovirus.

“Thus, enterovirus and adenovirus were the two agents found in 37/39 (95%) of the tested patients, of which enterovirus was dominant (32/37, 86%), while the previously common agent, adenovirus, only accounted for a small number (5/37, 14%),” the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health informed. Currently, the research team continues to analyze gene decoding to accurately identify the serotype and genotype of the enterovirus and adenovirus causing the disease.

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