title: Study of infectious conjunctivitis among children in rural areas of Qinghai province.
abstract: Infectious conjunctivitis is no longer a common eye disease in cities and developed areas, but in remote mountainous regions of China where living conditions are relatively under-developed, the occurrence of infectious conjunctivitis remains a public health issue. Here, we evaluate the ratio of infectious conjunctivitis among primary school students in the rural areas of Xunhua, Huangyuan, and Huzhu Counties in the Qinghai province of China, and report the microorganisms involved in causing infection. Of the 765 eligible primary school students, 694 participated to this study (a response rateof 90.7%), 381 boys and 313 girls, with a mean age of 7.52 years (range 7-9 years). A clinical diagnosis of infectious conjunctivitis was returned for 238 of the 694 children examined. The ratio of infectious conjunctivitis in Xunhua County (46.64%) was higher compared to that in Huangyuan (26.67%; P=0.03) and Huzhu Counties (23.61%; P=0.02). The leading cause of conjunctivitis was bacterial, followed by chlamydial and viral. Our results show that there is a high ratio of infectious conjunctivitis among rural primary school students in Qinghai province.
authors.affiliation: Beijing Institute of Ophthalmology, Beijing Tongren Eye Center, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Beijing, 100005, China.
authors.forename: Qingfeng
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: Beijing Institute of Ophthalmology, Beijing Tongren Eye Center, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Beijing, 100005, China.
authors.forename: Xinxin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Beijing Institute of Ophthalmology, Beijing Tongren Eye Center, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Beijing, 100005, China.
authors.forename: Mei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Beijing Institute of Ophthalmology, Beijing Tongren Eye Center, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Beijing, 100005, China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.affiliation: Beijing Institute of Ophthalmology, Beijing Tongren Eye Center, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Beijing, 100005, China.|Quinze-Vingts National Ophthalmology Hospital, Paris and Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines University, Versailles, F-75002, France.|INSERM, U968; UPMC Univ Paris 06, UMR_S 968, Institut de la Vision; CNRS, UMR_7210, Paris, F-75012, France.
authors.forename: Antoine
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Labbé
authors.affiliation: Beijing Institute of Ophthalmology, Beijing Tongren Eye Center, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Beijing, 100005, China. halzxf@sina.com.
authors.forename: Ailian
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hu
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D003234:Conjunctivitis, Bacterial / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D003236:Conjunctivitis, Viral / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012424:Rural Population; D018609:Tibet / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: bacteria; chlamydia; conjunctivitis; rural children