Of the 35 cases that presented conjunctivitis, 13 cases suffered it before admission to the hospital, 12 cases in the time interval between admission and our evaluation, and 10 cases presented conjunctivitis at the time of evaluation. The main clinical characteristics found on the latter are shown in Table 1. None of the patients showed conjunctival petechiae, corneal infiltrates nor membranes or pseudomembranes.
Table 1 Clinical presentation of conjunctivitis
Overall (N = 35) Male (N = 21) Female (N = 14) P value
No. % 95% CI No. % 95% CI No. % 95% CI
Conjunctivitis Unilateral 19 54.2 37.1 70.5 10 47.7 26.7 69.3 9 64.2 35.7 85.3 0.49*
Bilateral 16 45.7 29.5 62.9 11 52.3 30.6 73.2 5 35.7 14.6 64.3
Conjunctival hyperemia Mild 28 80.0 62.6 90.5 17 80.9 57.1 93.1 11 78.5 48.1 93.5 0.99*
Moderate/severe 7 20.0 9.4 37.4 4 19.0 6.8 42.8 3 21.4 6.4 51.8
Mucopurulent discharge Mild 14 42.4 26.2 60.4 7 35.0 16.4 59.5 7 53.8 24.8 80.4 0.20*
Moderate 18 54.5 36.8 71.2 13 65.0 40.4 83.5 5 38.4 14.6 69.4
Severe 1 3.0 0.3 20.3 0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1 7.6 0.7 46.8
Tearing Yes 15 42.8 27.0 60.2 9 42.8 22.6 65.8 6 42.8 18.2 71.5 0.99*
No 20 57.1 39.7 72.9 12 57.1 34.1 77.3 8 57.1 28.4 81.7
Foreign body sensation Yes 12 34.2 20.0 52.0 8 38.1 19.0 61.6 4 28.5 9.6 60.1 0.72*
No 23 65.7 47.9 79.9 13 61.9 38.3 80.9 10 71.4 39.8 90.4
*Fisher’s exact test