Whether our interventions to stop the outbreak were helpful remains unclear. Messages about prevention encouraged students to wash their hands, seek treatment for symptoms of conjunctivitis, and reduce contact that would foster transmission. In addition, alcohol-based hand gel was distributed to undergraduate students. Although the use of hand gel improves hand hygiene in the hospital setting,32,33 its benefit in the setting of a community outbreak is unknown. Our evaluation of the effectiveness of hand gel may not have been conclusive because of the timing of its distribution, just before the spring break. The number of students given a diagnosis of conjunctivitis declined markedly after the break, but whether this decline resulted from our interventions, decreased contact among students during the break, or the fact that there were no more susceptible students in the college population is unknown.