Pinkeye Treatment May Be on the Horizon
Experimental Eye Drops Could Prevent Infection, Researchers Say
Human Studies Next Step continued...
He says that in animal studies the drops appeared to be safe with few side effects.
“Instead of killing the viruses, it prevents them from attaching to the binding receptor in the eye, so this should be a very safe treatment with little risk for (acquired) resistance,” he tells WebMD.
Because there is no good animal model for pinkeye, Dellgren says human studies will be needed to prove that the treatment works.
“Pinkeye is a huge problem, especially in densely populated countries such as Japan, where there are more than a million cases a year,” he says.
American Academy of Ophthalmology president-elect Ruth D. Williams, MD, says a treatment is badly needed to shorten the duration of symptoms and the time pinkeye patients are infectious to other people.
Williams is president of the Wheaton Eye Clinic in Wheaton, Ill.
She says it remains to be seen if the approach outlined in the study proves to be effective and safe.
“It will be interesting to see what the studies show,” she says. “All of us would love an effective treatment for viral conjunctivitis because it is so widespread. When it sweeps through a school or an office or a family, it is very disruptive.”