Pink Eye- a Highly Contagious Infection

Pink eye is a less technical term for a condition known as conjunctivitis, where the membrane the lines your eyeball and eyelid is inflamed or infected. Pink eye is highly contagious; children are often sent home from school with the affliction. Pink eye results from a bacterial or a viral infection, and it may crop up in newborns that suffer from an incompletely opened tear duct. Even though pink eye can be quite irritating, it rarely has any adverse effects on a person's eyesight. Bacterial pink eye can be cleared up in short order in most cases with the use of medicated eye drops or ointments, whereas the viral version has to run its course before disappearing.

Viruses are at the root of most instances of pink eye, producing a watery mucous discharge from one or both eyes. Bacterial pink eye cases will be associated with a thicker, yellow-greenish discharge and may come along as a side effect of a respiratory infection or sore throat. Both types of pink eye can accompany colds, and they both are extremely contagious. Although young and old can have pink eye, children are more susceptible to the bacterial kind. Pink eye can also be brought about by allergic reactions to substances in the air, with pollen one example of such an irritant. Allergic pink eye reactions can precipitate itching, to go along with the redness and inflammation of the eyelids.