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Conjunctivitis - infective - Management
How do I manage neonatal conjunctivitis?
- Urgently refer all infants in the first 28 days of life with conjunctivitis for same day assessment and management of their conjunctivitis.
Clarification / Additional information
- It is important to distinguish neonatal conjunctivitis, when the conjunctiva is inflamed and red, from a simple sticky eye (when there are no signs of conjunctival inflammation). A simple sticky eye does not usually require specialist assessment.
Basis for recommendation
- Neonatal conjunctivitis may result in a severe and rapidly progressive eye infection, or be associated with a potentially serious systemic infection, both of which require urgent investigation and management in secondary care.
- Chlamydia is the commonest cause of neonatal conjunctivitis in the United States. An infant born to a mother with chlamydia has a 30–40% chance of developing conjunctivitis, and a 10–20% chance of developing pneumonia.
- Gonorrhoea infection typically results in a rapidly developing severe conjunctivitis associated a profuse purulent discharge within 48 hours of birth. Corneal ulceration and perforation may occur.
[Yanoff and Duker, 2004]
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