AzaSite(®) (azithromomycin 1.0%) ophthalmic solution was approved in 2007 by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as the first commercially available formulation of ophthalmic azithromycin for the treatment of bacterial conjunctivitis. AzaSite(®) utilizes a vehicle delivery system called DuraSite(®), which stabilizes and sustains the release of azithromycin to the ocular surface, leading t...

A newly developed 1% eye preparation of the potent antistaphylococcal antibiotic fusidic acid, showed an excellent clinical effect in 206 Egyptian children with external eye infections. The 248 patients included in the study were randomized, in the ratio 5:1, to either fusidic acid or chloramphenicol 0.5% eye drops. Both preparations were given four to six times daily for one week. Bacterial co...

We describe a patient who was seen with a unilateral red eye and purulent discharge refractory to antibiotic treatment with multiple antibiotic regimens over the previous 4 months. Initially it was believed to be a bacterial conjunctivitis, but when conventional treatments failed it was thought to be a viral conjunctivitis with bacterial superinfection. Cultures yielded only Enterococcus. There...

CLINICAL CASE The case is presented of a 43 year-old male patient with chronic follicular conjunctivitis, negative bacterial serology, and refractory to local treatment. The incisional biopsy performed showed to be consistent with reactive lymphoid hyperplasia. A year later, a new incisional biopsy showed follicular lymphoma, with no systemic involvement, and he was treated with local radiother...

BACKGROUND Although non-diphtherial corynebacteria are ubiquitous in nature and commonly colonise the skin and mucous membranes of humans, they rarely account for clinical infection. METHODS AND RESULTS 10 patients with unilateral conjunctivitis are described in which Corynebacterium macginleyi was isolated. This species has only recently been reported to be exclusively isolated form ocular s...

BACKGROUND The purpose of this paper is to report on the bacterial species isolated from patients with bacterial conjunctivitis participating in three clinical trials of besifloxacin ophthalmic suspension, 0.6%, and their in vitro antibacterial susceptibility profiles. METHODS Microbial data from three clinical studies, conducted at multiple clinical sites in the US and Asia were integrated. ...

BACKGROUND One in eight schoolchildren have an episode of acute infective conjunctivitis every year. Standard clinical practice is to prescribe a topical antibiotic, although the evidence to support this practice is scarce. We undertook a randomised double-blind trial to compare the effectiveness of chloramphenicol eye drops with placebo in children with infective conjunctivitis in primary care...

AIM To evaluate the effectiveness of 2.5% povidone-iodine eye drops (PIED) compared with ophthalmic chloramphenicol (OC) for preventing neonatal conjunctivitis. METHODS 2004 neonates were enrolled from three rural hospitals in a trachoma endemic area. They were randomly assigned to receive either PIED (n = 1024) or OC (n = 974). Infectious conjunctivitis was confirmed by laboratory methods, i...

Forty patients with a diagnosis of presumptive bacterial conjunctivitis were treated with either trimethoprim-polymyxin or chloramphenicol ophthalmic solutions in a randomized, double-blind trial. No significant differences could be demonstrated between the results of 7-days' treatment with the two preparations and both solutions were found to be effective in improving the signs and symptoms of...

This chapter will describe various treatment options for infective conjunctivitis, allergic conjunctivitis, conjunctivitis in immunological disorders and other varieties of conjunctivitis that can be effectively managed in general practice whilst also highlighting various RCTs and systematic reviews on treatment of conjunctivitis. The conjunctiva is a vascularised mucus membrane that covers som...