Management of infants born to women with sexually transmitted diseases.

Since infants who acquire sexually transmitted diseases from their mothers are rarely symptomatic at birth, many recommendations are based on the maternal history and results of serologic screening tests. Management of an infant born to a mother with syphilis is based primarily on the mother's history of the disease and treatment. With gonorrhea, a single dose of ceftriaxone should be given to the infant if the mother is infected. Infants born to mothers with chlamydial infection are at risk of conjunctivitis and pneumonitis within the first two to 12 weeks of life. These infants should receive erythromycin 24 hours after birth. With herpes simplex infection, conjunctival and nasopharyngeal cultures should be obtained 24 to 48 hours after birth. Intravenous acyclovir should be given in cases of neonatal infection. Hepatitis B immune globulin should be given as soon as possible to an infant whose mother is HBsAg-seropositive. Infants born to mothers who are seropositive for human immunodeficiency virus should be started on zidovudine within 24 hours after birth.