Severe neonatal chlamydial conjunctivitis with unilateral corneal perforation after unattended home delivery in rural Ethiopia
Submitted: 11 December 2016
Accepted: 9 February 2017
Published: 28 March 2017
Accepted: 9 February 2017
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All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
Case presentation. We present two cases of severe neonatal chlamydial conjunctivitis with unilateral corneal involvement in new-born children, after unattended home deliveries in rural Ethiopia. Despite antibiotic treatment, in one case, surgical corneal repair was necessary in order to avoid excessive scarring and subsequent unilateral blindness of the child.
Conclusions. As the presence of an ophthalmologist in sub-Saharan Africa is very rare, many children in the same condition may become blind due to lack of trained surgeons. For these reasons, screening programmes for sexually transmitted infections in pregnant women with suspect vaginal discharge should be implemented by local authorities; as well as local prophylaxis with tetracyclin eye-ointment being made available in rural communities.
Cirri, L., Hailu, A., & Riedel, F. (2017). Severe neonatal chlamydial conjunctivitis with unilateral corneal perforation after unattended home delivery in rural Ethiopia. Microbiologia Medica, 32(1). https://doi.org/10.4081/mm.2017.6459
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