RESEARCH NOTE - Outbreak of Acute Haemorrhagic Conjunctivitis in Cuba

Acute haemorrhagic conjunctivitis (AHC) is a highly contagious eye disease, which appeared for the first time in Africa in 1969. The causative agent was identified by R Kono et al. (1972 Lancet 1: 1191-1194) as a new type of Picornavirus: Enterovirus type 70 (E70). Other outbreak occurred in 1970 in Singapore and probably in Java Island was caused by another new human pathogen that was identified as a variant of Coxsackievirus A24 (CA24v) (M Yin-Murphy 1972 Southeast Asian J Trop Med Public Health 33: 303-309). Since then, both agents have caused outbreaks in different parts of the world, sometimes with a pandemic behaviour.