Topical chloramphenicol/gentamicin in the empirical treatment of acute conjunctivitis--is it rational?

Acute conjunctIvitIS is the most common eye infection encountered in clinical practice. The use of topical chloramphenicol! gentamicin in the empirical treatment of this condition is widely practised. The use of chloramphenical in conjunctivitis cases has been recommended!. There is no published data on the types of bacteria causing acute conjuncnvltls In Malaysia. The results of studies done elsewhere may not reflect the true situation here. Therefore we investigated the validity of this practice in the context of our hospital situation. We believe the results of our study which we report here will be useful to general practitioners in the correct choice of anti microbials for the effective management of acute conjunctivitis.