Ocular findings in a measles epidemic among young adults

Abstract

PURPOSE: To present ocular findings in a measles epidemic outbreak among young adults. METHODS: Ophthalmic lesions in an unselected group of 61 young military personnel with measles were followed. Eighteen of the patients had symmetric keratitis in both eyes. They were treated with diclofenac sodium eyedrops qid in the right eye, while the left eye was observed untreated. The disappearance of the corneal lesions in both eyes was compared. RESULTS: Forty patients (65.6%) had measles conjunctivitis with bulbar and tarsal conjunctival hyperemia. Five (8.2%) had increased mucous secretion. Thirty-five (57.4%) had superficial punctate corneal epithelial and subepithelial lesions which stained with fluorescein. Ten patients had corneal lesions without evident conjunctival pathology. Fourteen patients had subconjunctival hemorrhages, 12 of whom had bilateral lesions mostly in the superonasal quadrant. The time to disappearance of corneal lesions was 4.5±3.2 days in the diclophenac-treated right eyes, and 4.1±3.8 days in the left eyes. We did not observe a significant difference in the healing time between the two eyes (p=0.75). CONCLUSION: Measles did not cause major ocular complications in healthy patients. Keratitis was unresponsive to diclophenac sodium eyedrops with respect to healing time and end result.