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Background: Perinatal transmission of Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) and Neisseria gonorrhoeae (GC) infections can result in conjunctivitis in infants, which is a common cause of blindness in infants. We assessed the burden of and trends in CT/GC conjunctivitis in infants using national surveillance data.
Methods: We examined CT and GC case report data among infants <1 year of age with a specimen collection site of “eye/conjunctiva”, indicating CT or GC conjunctivitis, for the years 2010–2015. Rates per 100,000 live births were calculated using natality data. Data from 2015 are preliminary and included cases reported to CDC as of March 23, 2016.
Results: During 2010–2015, 560 cases of CT or GC conjunctivitis among infants were reported. Cases were similar by sex (48.2% male, 51.3% female) and the plurality of cases were among black non-Hispanics (36.6%). CT accounted for 517 (92.3%) and GC for 43 (7.7%) of infections. Reported rates in 2015 were 1.53 and 0.25 cases per 100,000 live births for CT and GC conjunctivitis, respectively. Reported rates of CT conjunctivitis varied by region in 2015, with the highest rate in the Northeast (2.68 per 100,000 live births) and the lowest in the West (0.82 per 100,000 live births). During 2010–2015, the overall reported rate of CT conjunctivitis decreased by 49% (3.00 to 1.53 per 100,000 live births) and the rate of GC conjunctivitis was ≤0.25 cases per 100,000 live births every year.
Conclusions: National surveillance data indicate that rates of reported CT conjunctivitis decreased during 2010–2015 and GC conjunctivitis remained low. Given that prophylactic treatment options for CT and GC conjunctivitis are limited, surveillance of trends associated with these infections are needed to monitor perinatal transmission of CT/GC and related sequelae.