Is keratitis contagious in children?

Keratitis is a relatively common ophthalmic disease. In recent years, the number of patients suffering from keratitis has increased, and its impact on patients' vision is also very great. Many children often rub their eyes with their hands, which causes a lot of bacteria on the cornea, which can lead to keratitis over time. Some people believe that children's keratitis is contagious to a certain extent. So, is keratitis in children contagious?

Corneal inflammation caused by various factors is collectively referred to as keratitis. It is one of the common ophthalmic diseases and one of the main causes of blindness in my country. The cornea is located at the front of the eyeball and is in direct contact with the outside world. It is easily damaged by microorganisms, trauma, and physical and chemical stimuli, causing inflammation. Clinically, it manifests as irritation symptoms such as blurred vision, pain, photophobia and tearing, as well as obvious vision loss. Ophthalmic examination may reveal loss of corneal luster, reduced transparency, and ulcer formation. In severe cases, corneal perforation, intraocular infection and even blindness may occur. Currently, keratitis is clinically divided into infectious, immune, malnutrition, neuroparalysis and exposure according to the cause of the disease. Infectious keratitis often occurs in the central area of ​​the cornea, while immune keratitis tends to occur in the peripheral area of ​​the cornea.

Causes

1. Infection

It is the most common cause of keratitis. Pathogenic microorganisms include bacteria (such as Pneumococcus, Staphylococcus aureus, hemolytic Streptococcus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, gonococci, etc.), viruses (herpes simplex virus, adenovirus, etc.), fungi, Acanthamoeba, Mycoplasma, Chlamydia, Treponema pallidum, etc. It usually causes disease when combined with damage or shedding of corneal epithelial cells or decreased body resistance. Once the corneal epithelium is damaged, infectious inflammation is very likely to occur. Therefore, corneal foreign bodies, corneal abrasions, improper use of contact lenses, eye contact with contaminated medicines or water sources, etc. are common susceptibility factors for infectious keratitis. Patients with diabetes, malnutrition, and chronic wasting diseases are also susceptible to keratitis due to decreased resistance.

2. Internal factors

Refers to endogenous diseases that come from the whole body. For example, some autoimmune diseases or other systemic diseases (such as vitamin A deficiency, trigeminal nerve damage) affect the cornea.

The cornea has no blood vessels, so acute infectious diseases are less likely to invade the cornea. However, corneal tissue is involved in the systemic immune response. Although the degree of its immune response is lower than that of other tissues, it is precisely because it has no blood vessels and its metabolism is relatively slow that the changes in the immune response are prolonged. The cornea is in a sensitive state for a long time, making it easy to develop allergic diseases such as bullous keratitis.

Intrinsic keratitis often occurs in the corneal stroma and generally does not cause corneal ulcers.

3. Spread to adjacent tissues

Due to embryological homology and anatomical continuity, it spreads to the corneal epithelium. Most diseases originate from the conjunctiva. For example, severe conjunctivitis is often accompanied by superficial keratitis.