Pink eye infections stall during vacation

The outbreak of conjunctivitis at the University, which began last month and has afflicted nearly 300 undergraduate and graduate students, subsided last week while most students were off campus for Spring Break.

"We're certainly hopeful that having people separated from each other may give us a break," said Dr. Pamela Bowen, the University's director of health services. But Bowen added that because many students only returned to campus yesterday, it will still take several weeks to determine whether the number of new cases is truly on a decline.

At the height of the pink eye outbreak between five and 10 new cases were diagnosed each day. The average has decreased to between one and two in the last few days, Bowen said. The current rate does not differ much from the number of new conjunctivitis cases diagnosed per day during this time in past years, Bowen said.

Conjunctivitis is an inflammation of the conjunctiva, the clear mucous membrane covering the white part of the eyeball and the inside of the eyelid. Though it generally is only irritating, conjunctivitis is extremely contagious. Conjunctivitis can be bacterial, viral or both.

Dartmouth College students are also suffering in large numbers from conjunctivitis. About 1,000 Dartmouth students were affected, the Boston Globe reported. Though no solid link has been found, many are wondering if students traveling between Princeton and Dartmouth brought conjunctivitis from one campus to the other.

The University has been working with the Center for Disease Control, nearly on a daily basis, to determine if there is a link between the two outbreaks. Because it has been so long since the outbreak began, Bowen said she does not believe a source of the conjunctivitis will be discovered — unless the CDC finds that the strain of conjunctivitis that caused the outbreak at Princeton is the same one that targeted Dartmouth.

From 11 cultures taken from affected Princeton students, five showed streptococcus pneumoniae bacterial growth. The CDC will be comparing those results with similar tests from Dartmouth students to look for a link.

Bowen said the CDC has recommended that the University's health administrators continue to do what they are doing — educating students to wash their hands often before touch their eyes, nose and mouth.

Students should also wash their hands after using public computer terminals.

Though this is the largest outbreak of conjunctivitis in at least the past 10 years, it is not as severe as the influenza outbreaks that have struck the campus in years past, Bowen said.