Intended for healthcare professionals

Rapid response to:

This Week In The Bmj

Delay prescribing of antibiotics for acute conjunctivitis

BMJ 2006; 333 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.333.7563.0 (Published 10 August 2006) Cite this as: BMJ 2006;333:0

Rapid Response:

Conjunctivits- Rhyme or Reason in the Nursery?

As a GP, I am often asked to prescribe antibiotics for sticky eyes-
even when there is minimal conjunctival inflammation. I have often
explained that antibiotics are unlikely to make much difference compared
to simple hygiene etc- however I am often told that "the nursery" sent the
child home and won't have the child back unless she/he's been on treatment
for 24hours and is "no longer infectious". I have tried to find out the
basis for this policy, but the (few) nursery staff I have asked seem not
to know.

Now that chloramphenicol is available "over the counter" in the UK,
this is less of a problem for me (as a GP) but there are presumably still
a lot of children being treated unnecessarily.

Has anyone else come across this problem? Is there a leaflet from any
authority that could be sent to "the nursery"?

Competing interests:
None declared

Competing interests: No competing interests

13 August 2006
Laurence B Leaver
GP
Jericho Health Centre, Oxford, OX2 6NW