A microbiological study of ophthalmia neonatorum in hospital-born babies.

A retrospective microbiological analysis of ophthalmia neonatorum among the hospital-born babies of a rural multispecialty hospital over a period of 2 years was made. Diagnostic cultures were performed in all the affected babies and 30 cases were found to be culture positive for bacterial species. The spectrum of various bacterial isolates and their antibiotic sensitivity patterns were studied. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was found to be the commonest causative organism according to this study and newer fluoroquinolones like ciprofloxacin and norfloxacin were the antibiotics that showed the best sensitivity pattern.