27 Mar 2014

American Samoa's Health Dept issues pink eye alert

7:10 am on 27 March 2014

The American Samoa Department of Health has issued a pink eye health alert after 30 cases were recorded over the weekend at the hospital.

Samoa News quotes the Department's Communicable Disease Surveillance nurse, Sharmaine Mageo, saying that the cases were seen in the Emergency Room, but she also understands that some people are nursing their pink eye condition at home.

She says patients of pink eye should not try home remedies but instead go to their doctor to get proper treatment.

She has also urged parents to keep their children at home if they are sick, and students with pink eye on school campus must be sent home.

And when traveling to neighboring Samoa, where there is a pink eye outbreak, she says territorial residents should be careful and take necessary precautions at all times.

She says simple measures such as hand washing and general cleanliness need to be conveyed to the public as a preventative measure from catching the irritating condition.