‘Apollo’ Infection Spreads In Abeokuta

Residents of Abeokuta and its environs have continued to besiege hospitals and clinics as a result of the ‘Apollo’ scourge, plaguing most parts of the city.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Viral Conjunctivitis, popularly known as “Apollo” is an infection of the membrane connecting the eyeball and the eyelid known as the conjunctiva.

The scourge has now become a major topic of discourse among residents and many of them have had to contend with the disease.

Some of the residents who spoke with NAN expressed their worry on the disease which has affected many families in recent times.

A resident, who simply gave her name as Mrs Adekola, expressed worry, saying that all members of her family had to contend with the disease which is easily transferable within members of a family.

“It was our daddy that first had it and since the pain is so severe, he cannot be isolated and taking care of him, other members of the family contacted it,”Adekola lamented.

Another sufferer, Lateef Olawale, told NAN that he contacted the disease alongside his fiancé but that he ignorantly used sugar and urine solution to cure it, a move, he said, had complicated the problem.

“A friend told me that the sugar and urine solution will lessen the itching and redness, but instead, it had worsened the situation and that’s why I am here (hospital) to see a doctor,” he said.

According to a Consultant Ophthalmologist with the Ogun State Hospital, Dr Kayode Oladehinde, the infection had no particular cure, “it is seasonal and spreads widely.”

While condemning the use of what he called acidic solutions to affected eyes, he advised residents to desist from using such substances to treat the disease.

‘’The disease itself is not the problem, but it is what people do to treat it that becomes a problem.

“Acid can injure the eye and it can give room for other infections which may consequently result in blindness,” he said.

Oladehinde noted that treatment of the disease was simple, saying “we just give some medications to relieve the discomfort and occasionally give antibiotics, not to stem the infection, but as a prophylactic measure”.

The surgeon, who described the eye as the most delicate part of the body, urged people with any eye infection, no matter how small or insignificant, to always patronise experts for proper treatment.