Conjunctivitis, that infamous, sticky-itchy-oozy infection of the eye, can strike anywhere and anyone. For the most part, however, pink eye sticks to its preferred domain, afflicting youthful targets in schoolyard haunts where the infection spreads from dirty little hand to once-clean little eye with the tenacity and enthusiasm of wildfire. Though wholly reliant on direct inoculation to the eyeball, it is easily transmitted, whether by the sticky digits of children unfamiliar with good hygiene or via errant eye gunk inadvertently smeared on a communal surface.
But banal as conjunctivitis may be, it can surface in unpredictable and surprising ways due to its success as a highly contagious infection caused by either bacterial or viral organisms. One interesting testament to these organisms’ success is evident in the case of a group of very pink-eyed American healthcare workers traveling to Fiji for a medical conference and scuba diving trip in 2006 (1).
