A case control study of ophthalmia Neonatorum in Kaduna II: causative agents and their antibiotic sensitivity

To identify the causative agents of ophthalmia neonatorum and their antibiotic sensitivity in the hospitals of study.

A case-control study of ophthalmia neonatorum was carried out in 6 hospitals in Kaduna metropolis in northern Nigeria. Two hundred cases were matched with two hundred controls.

The male to female ratio was 1.1:1. The mean age of the patients was 8.9 days, and range was birth to 28 days. The age at the onset of the symptoms was birth to 27 days with a mean of 3.9 days. The most common pathogen isolated in this study was Staphylococcus aureus, both in cases (69.7%) and in controls (48%). Only one case of Neisseria gonorrhoea was found. Thirteen and four E. coli were isolated from cases and control while 7 and 31 Staphylococcus epidermidis were isolated from cases and controls respectively. Giemsa staining carried out in only 3 out of the 6 hospitals yielded 9 and 3 isolates of Chlamydia trachomatis in cases and controls respectively. The percentage sensitivity of Staphylococcus aureus to penicillin, chloramphenicol, tetracycline, erythromycin and gentamicin were 3, 73, 37, 59 and 77 respectively. The corresponding sensitivity of E. coli to the above antibiotics was 0, 69, 46, 10 and 62 respectively.

Most of the cases of ophthalmia neonatorum are mild.