The pathogen of the disease is adenovirus, including types 8, 19, 29 and 37 (subgroup D of human adenovirus), but type 8 is usually found and often gives rise to the fulminant epidemic of the disease. The other types are often seen in scattered cases.

Clinically, the disease pertains to "Tianxing Chiyan Baoyi" (epidemic keratoconjunctivity) in traditional Chinese medicine. Its exopathic cause is the affection of epidemic and noxious pathogenic factors, and the endopathic one is the hyperactivity of lung fire. The pathogenesis of the disease is that the combination of external and internal pathogenic factors invades both the liver and lung, which makes the pathogenic qi of liver and lung attack upwards the eye. This leads to the formation of the disease.