Refining the public health response to primary meningococcal conjunctivitis

Primary meningococcal conjunctivitis (PMC) is accepted as an uncommon condition. This report describes two recent cases of PMC in newborn infants in a hospital nursery. In both cases the organisms identified were non-groupable strains of N. meningiditis, considered to be of low pathogenic potential. Both infants received systemic therapy and recovered without sequelae. The Guidelines for the early clinical and public health management of meningococcal disease in Australia recommend the notification of PMC to public health authorities and chemoprophylaxis of contacts. However, our 2 cases suggest that the guidelines should allow for an assessment of risk in determining the public health response. This assessment should include the severity of the conjunctivitis and the serogroup of the N. meningitidis isolate.