[Characterization of infectious conjunctivitis in a fourth-level care center, Bogota, Colombia]

The purpose of this study is to describe the characteristics of the populations that consulted to the emergency service due to conjunctivitis from March 1 of 2019 to March 1 of 2021 and evaluate the frequency of presentation of contagious ocular pathologies like is the case of bacterial conjunctivitis.

A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in a historical cohort in the Department of Surgery, Ophthalmology Unit of the Hospital Universitario San Ignacio, Bogotá D.C. from March 2019 to March 1, 2021. The study included patients with a diagnosis of bacterial conjunctivitis and patients with a diagnosis of superinfected viral conjunctivitis, and excluded all patients with a positive result for COVID-19 and patients with symptoms suggestive of SARS-infectionCoV-2. Of the patients, 629 met the selection criteria.

Between March 2019 and April 2020, 534 consultations were registered in the emergency department of the ophthalmology unit, and from April 24, 2020 (when resolution 666 on biosecurity measures started) until March 2021, 95 consultations were registered. The majority of the patients presented with viral conjunctivitis, followed by superinfected viral conjunctivitis, and bacterial conjunctivitis.

We hypothesize that biosecurity measures such as isolation, frequent hand washing, and the use of face masks could explain the marked reduction in cases of infectious conjunctivitis in the community.