A study of inclusion conjunctivitis in newborn and young adults. Clinical picture, culture, conjunctival scrapings and cytology of the tear fluid in 12 cases.

Chlamydia trachomatis were cultured from the conjunctiva of 8 newborn babies and 4 young adults' (age 20-30 years) affected with acute or therapy-resistant chronic conjunctivitis. The newborn had acute purulent conjunctivitis noticed 4 to 12 days after birth. Five of them had been treated with topical chloramphenicol without effect before the diagnosis was made. They responded well to topical tetracycline ointment, but 3 relapsed. Two developed chronic conjunctivitis and respiratory tract infection, one under long time topical chloramphenicol treatment. The adults had a chronic, in 3 unilateral, conjunctivitis with pronounced follicularly (3) or papillary (1) conjunctival hypertrophy. Different degrees of pseudoptosis, micropannus and corneal infiltrates (in 3) were noticed. In the tear fluid, the quantitative pipette method revealed inflammation shown by neutrophilic granulocytes and lymphocytes with an appreciable predominance of the former in the newborn, while less so in the adults. In the newborn the diagnosis was easily made by culture and by demonstrating inclusions bodies in Giemsa-stained conjunctival scrapings. In the adults the methods were less sensitive. A negative response to one culture does not preclude chlamydial infection.