Subacute and acute epidemic conjunctivitis due to neisseria gonorrhoeae SSP

ABSTRACT

An outbreak of acute conjunctivitis with profuse exudation was observed between November 1987 and June 1988 in Konso; North Omo. There were 9;075 registered cases and seven months later; 20 cases with mild; subacute conjunctivitis were observed. Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Neisseria gonorrhoeae subsp. kochii were the causative agents; while Haemophilus spp. behaved as opportunistic infection. The condition is resistant to topical antibiotics; but the outbreak could be controlled by mass treatment with single dose oral ampicillin and probenecid. Severe sequelae were observed in 36 patients treated with this regimen. This is the first isolation of N. gonorrhoeae subsp. kochii outside Egypt; and the first recorded outbreak of Neisseria gonorrhoeae conjunctivitis affecting thousands of patients in more than 40 years