All public schools in the U.S. island territory were ordered to close down on Friday after nearly 2,300 students and more than 100 teachers contracted pink eye, officials in American Samoa said.
Twenty-eight schools from preschool through high school, plus preschool and special education programs were requested to be shut down due to the outbreak. According to the Associated Press, they will not reopen until Wednesday.
Some private schools were also closed and court cases postponed because of the infection.
American Samoa, a group of islands in the South Pacific about halfway between New Zealand and Hawaii, has about 13,000 kids enrolled in its public schools. 130 teachers and close to 2,300 students have been infected with a pink eye, Salu Hunkin-Finau, director of the territory's Education Department, said.
"(These) are alarming numbers of students and staff affected," Hunkin-Finau said. "We are giving our children and all our personnel the days as well as the weekend to take care of themselves and also protect others."
"Conjunctivitis - known as pink eye - is one of the most common eye conditions, inflaming tissue on the eyeball and lining the eyelid, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention," the AP reported. "The CDC says viral and bacterial pink eye is very contagious, and it can also be caused by allergens."
An outbreak that closed schools for a week in neighboring Samoa last month might have caused the infection, local government officials said.
After the number of cases spiked at community health clinics and a hospital, the territory's Department of Health issued a health alert on pink eye last week.
"The pink eye epidemic is moving quickly, affecting several of our students and teachers," said Eddie Brown, the Catholic school system's director.
"Parents and government officials say that the number of cases will be higher than what's reported because many people are opting to stay home rather than go to a doctor," the AP reported. "The outbreak also affected court cases, with most criminal hearings in the High Court of American Samoa postponed Thursday and Friday because the assistant public defender was out sick with pink eye."
