Being busy with work and family visiting, I have fallen behind on
Lactnet.    I am always surprised whenever I get reminded that newborns in
the US are still having eye prophylaxis against STDs they probably don't
have. Anyone know what the prevalence of gonorrhea and/or chlamydia in
pregnant women is in the US?
We stopped this practice in Norway before I became a midwife and indeed,
before I had my son here in 1986. In 25 years of practice on a postpartum
ward I have yet to see a case of conjunctivitis caused by either of the
aforementioned bugs. It is not because mothers here lead chaste, controlled
lives, either. We don't treat babies unless they actually get sticky eyes
and that happens a few times each month, invariably from S. aureus (we do
cultures). My understanding is that there is plenty of time to initiate
treatment after symptoms and signs appear. They never used ointment either.
The eye prophylaxis that was abandoned was silver nitrate drops and the
irritation it caused was thought to be worse than an infection.
Rachel Myr, Kristiansand, Norway

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