Ophthalmia Neonatorum (Pediatric Nursing)

00:00 Another subset of pink eye is called ophthalmia neonatorum and this is pink eye that occurs in the first month of life.

00:08 This can be viral, chlamydial, or bacterial.

00:11 Bacterial causes include Haemophilus, Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, and Pseudomonas.

00:16 Viral causes include the herpes simplex virus, adenovirus, or enterovirus.

00:21 And the incubation depends on the organism.

00:23 In chlamydia infection, this is 5-14 days and in gonorrheal infection, it's 3-5.

00:29 The mode of transmission is when the baby descends down the birth canal, they may be exposed to these organisms.

00:35 Now, these newborn babies, so less than 28-day-olds are gonna present to the clinic with eye redness and are going to have lots and lots of thick eye discharge.

00:44 This can be profuse. The baby may have some eyelid swelling and it's usually a bilateral infection.

00:50 This can become serious and corneal perforation can present with gonorrheal infection.

00:55 To prevent neonatal conjunctivitis because it can be so serious, state laws require that most hospitals put drops or ointment in a newborn's eye after delivery.

01:05 This is usually in a form of erythromycin.

01:08 Despite treatment after birth, this condition can be caused by other pathogens not covered by the ointment so if suspected, this child needs to be immediately referred to an ophthalmologist same day.

01:20 If the ophthalmologist suspects there might be a viral illness component or a herpetic involvement, they'll start the baby on antiviral medication.

01:27 If chlamydia is suspected, the baby will be given systemic or topical antibiotics.

01:32 And if a more typical bacterial or gonococcal infection is suspected, topical antibiotics and eye irrigation will be used to help manage the copious discharge.