Children May Not Need Antibiotics for Acute Infective Conjunctivitis
The above headline appeared
in a June 24, 2005 article from the online Medscape from WebMD. This
article was based on the findings of a new study published in the June 22,
2006 British research journal, The Lancet.
In
this study 326 children with a diagnosis of conjunctivitis ranging from age 6
months to 12 years were randomly selected from medical practices in the UK.
These children were separated into two groups. One group received eye
drops of the antibiotic chloramphenicol, while the other group got placebo
eye drops. Neither the doctors nor the patients knew whether they were
getting the placebo or the real antibiotic.
The children were re-examined
at day 7 and a follow up was done 6 weeks later. Eye swabs were collected
for bacterial and viral analysis. The results of the study on day seven
showed that of the 155 children in the placebo group, 128 of them, or 83%
were listed as cured. This compared to 140 being listed as cured of
the 162 children, representing 86%, in the group that actually got the
antibiotic chloramphenicol. The difference noted is statistically
insignificant, therefore researchers noted no real difference between the
two groups.
In the 6 week follow up
researchers found that further conjunctivitis episodes occurred in seven
children (4%) receiving chloramphenicol and in five children (3%) receiving
placebo. They also found that any additional adverse events occurred at a
similar rate in both groups.
Lead author Peter W. Rose,
from the University of Oxford, England commented, "We have shown that
symptoms resolve without antibiotics in most children with acute infective
conjunctivitis. The health economic argument against antibiotic
prescription for acute conjunctivitis is compelling."
The conclusion and
recommendations of the authors were, "Parents should be encouraged to
cleanse their children's eyes if an antibiotic is not prescribed. Parents
should be encouraged to treat children themselves without medical
consultation, unless their child develops unusual symptoms or the symptoms
persist for more than a week." |