Could a man be blinded by conjunctivitis?

[Chris_Baker]

A soldier I am researching returned home blind in both eyes. Unfortunately there is no trace of his service record but the medals documents refer to "conj both eyes". Now in my medically untutored mind that jumps to "conjunctivitis" - but could that blind a man? If not, is there another medical term beginning "conj" that means blind or could lead to blindness?

[JPAE]

Could it be 'Conjecture' that the blindness is total in both eyes.

Phil

[David B]

I know that conjunctivitis can make your lief miserable i.e. watering eyes and itchiness etc but

I didnt think it would make you blind. We await an opinion of a medico

David

[sw63]

Just a thought ...

Severe conjunctivitis was one of the symptoms of mustard gas irritation to the eyes...

Might it be describing a symptom and not the cause...?

Simon

[Lost in Tilloy]

Hi Chris

I recently downloaded the service records of a casualty who suffered from conjunctivitis during the war [his service records use the full term as opposed to ‘conj’]. He certainly appears to have been out of action for a number of weeks. He was serving with the 4th Royal Scots in Egypt at the time and was sent back to Port Said then to a hospital in Alexandria.

On a personal note I have had a few family members who suffered from this and in the worst case their eye lids were basically glued shut because of the ‘gunk’ that appears around the eye lids.

Translating that to the Great War, and the no doubt unhygienic conditions, I would imagine that a person suffering from this could well have had eyes that were nearly closed if the infection was severe and had not been treated soon after infection. This of course would have meant that the soldier’s efficiency would have been compromised. It must have been difficult for such a person to fall asleep knowing that his eyes were thick with rubbish perhaps fearing that if an attack alarm went off he would be unable to see properly.

Regards

LIT

[melwar]

Now in my medically untutored mind that jumps to "conjunctivitis" - but could that blind a man? If not, is there another medical term beginning "conj" that means blind or could lead to blindness?

Quick check with My Dad The GP... conjunctivitis itself won't lead to blindness because it is the inflammation of the conjunctiva not the eye itself. But if there was a keratitis (inflammation of the cornea), which you'd get from gas that affects the eyes, then there would definitely be associated conjunctivitis. Don't know why they'd have labelled that the primary symptom, I'm not sure how well they detected keratitis back then.

[aconnolly]

Chris

Conjunctivitis is used a general term to describe the appearance of the "whites of the eye" as red and sore, and therefore is a description of the appearance of the eyes with the underlying causes varying in severity from minor to include any severe infection of the outer part of the eyes. So, yes, blindness could be attributed to conjunctivitis.

One of the dysentery syndromes was associated with a nasty conjunctivitis as was mustard gas poisoning (as noted by Simon), and (in theory anyway) just about any other cause of redness and irritation of the eyes including sun-burn, sand, mud etc.

Whilst the vast majority of cases would recover without permanent vision impairment, some would go on to blindness

The cause of the blindness in most cases of conjunctitis was scarring due to secondary bactrial infection in the swollen and already irritated/inflamed eye. Effectively the damage resulted in a severe form of cataract - scar that basically blocks light reaching the back of the eye.

Regards

Andrew

[equusv]

A soldier I am researching returned home blind in both eyes. Unfortunately there is no trace of his service record but the medals documents refer to "conj both eyes". Now in my medically untutored mind that jumps to "conjunctivitis" - but could that blind a man? If not, is there another medical term beginning "conj" that means blind or could lead to blindness?

HI Chris,

Further to this, in Frank McCourt's wonderful memoir, Angela's Ashes, he grew up in the slums of Limerick and had severe conjunctivitis which almost resulted in blindness. I think it started with 'pink eye' which is officially called conjunctivitis in Canada anyway, and as he worked hauling coal the condition was exacerbated by coal dust and non-existent health care. He ended up in hospital with it long after it should have been attended to and is only lucky he didn't go blind with it, it had gotten so bad.

Bonfire.

[Doc2]

Technically, several commentors are already correct. By its definition, if conjunctivitis remains conjunctivitis, it doesn't cause blindness, as it involves the conjunctiva (the white of the eye) rather than the cornea (the part that light goes through). HOWEVER, the problem is that in some cases the disease or condition spreads from the conjunctiva to the cornea, and the subsequent corneal scarring could result in blindness. I would assume that, diagnostic terms being as flexible as they are in medical records of the period, one of these conditions could have been called conjunctivitis, even though it had spread to cover the cornea and thus caused blindness. Mustard gas is one possible culprit (though much less common as a cause of permanent blindness than we tend to think). Probably the most common infectious cause of conjunctivitis-associated blindness is/was that caused by gonorrhea. Others can include ligneous conjunctivitis, which can affect the cornea as well. So, bottom line is that from a strictly technical point of view, conjunctivitis does not directly cause blindness but it certainly can be associated with a case of blindness. Doc