From apollo to gonorrhoea and now irreversible blindness

One Friday morning, several years ago, Donath, an artisan, woke up with a feeling of pricking and gritty sensation in his right eye.

The eye was red. Within a few hours, the left eye was affected too. It was a particularly bad time for Donath because he was working on an important sculpture for a customer and had promised delivery the day before. However, owing to other smaller jobs he couldn’t deliver. He, nevertheless, had assured Mr. King that, unfailingly, he would get it ready first thing on next day.

Now his eyes had become uncomfortable and there was watery discharge. He just managed to keep them open. He washed his face with warm water and ran to his workshop. Intermittently wiping the watery discharge with his handkerchief, with tremendous difficulty, he was able to complete Mr. King’s job. He heaved a sigh of relief.

Donath’s friends had noticed his predicament and each started offering their “professional” advice. “Put some battery water, it will kill all the germs,” said Lameed. “This is Apollo; battery water is dangerous, it will just finish your eyes” said Moruf, the ‘battery charger’. Tim said, “I would advise you to use your urine to wash your face four times daily, you’ll be fine in no time.”

Donath decided that Tim’s advice was more plausible. So, he used his urine to wash his face, instilling some of it as eye drops in his eyes. By the following day, the eyes were so swollen that he could not open them. The copious purulent discharge was streaking down his face. He, therefore, decided to see an ophthalmologist (eye medical doctor).

I was alarmed when I saw Donath. It was obvious he originally had Apollo. This had now been complicated by gonococcal infection. At one time in the past, Donath must have had gonorrhoea, which was not properly treated. Thus, he had an asymptomatic gonococcal infection of the urinary tract which he had now introduced into his eyes through the urine.

Donath was commenced on the appropriate medications for his eyes while simultaneously treating the urinary tract infection. Within 72 hours of vigorous treatment, the swelling went down and his eyes were almost back to normal.

Many others were not so lucky. In the last three epidemics of Apollo, many unfortunate people lost one or both eyes. The damage to the eyes was not from the viral infection (the Apollo) which is usually self-limiting but from the use of abrasives and dangerous chemicals such as battery water, caustic soda and gonococcal infection introduced from the urine.