Abstract
We are reminded by the thorough study of Rapoza and colleagues 1 that chlamydial conjunctivitis is an important cause of ophthalmia neonatorum. In fact, it was not clear that any other of the broad range of bacterial and viral agents sought were causes of conjunctivitis. Only in the instance of ten cases from which Haemophilus influenzae was isolated was there any clear-cut evidence of an etiologic role. A striking finding was the low sensitivity of the Giemsa stain in comparison with previous studies of neonatal chlamydial conjunctivitis. In previous studies, 2 tissue cultures, Giemsa stains, and polyclonal fluorescent antibody smears appeared to be equally effective in diagnosis. Unfortunately, the methodologies are not comparable. In the current study, the Giemsa smear was made from the second swab after it had been used to prepare a direct immunofluorescent monoclonal antibody smear. In previous studies, the comparison was with a smear prepared from
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
