Question:medium
Which among the following is the most common cause of neonatal blindness?
Which among the following is the most common cause of neonatal blindness?
Show Hint
Gonococcus can penetrate an intact cornea, so it is the blinding cause of ophthalmia neonatorum.
Updated On: Jun 23, 2026
- Neisseria gonorrhoeae
- Chlamydia trachomatis
- Klebsiella
- Enterobacter
Show Solution
The Correct Option is A
Solution and Explanation
Step 1: Distinguish two different questions: the most common cause of neonatal conjunctivitis versus the most common cause of neonatal blindness. The stem asks about blindness, which shifts the answer toward the more destructive organism.
Step 2: Gonococcal ophthalmia neonatorum is hyperacute and aggressive. Unlike most surface infections, N. gonorrhoeae can invade an intact corneal epithelium, causing rapid keratitis, ulceration, and perforation.
Step 3: This sight-threatening corneal damage is why historic blindness in newborns was driven by gonococcus, prompting prophylaxis (Crede's silver nitrate, now erythromycin ointment) at birth.
Step 4: The other organisms either cause milder disease (Chlamydia, more common but rarely blinding) or are rare pathogens here (Klebsiella, Enterobacter). The blindness-causing answer is Neisseria gonorrhoeae.
\[\boxed{\text{Neisseria gonorrhoeae}}\]
Step 2: Gonococcal ophthalmia neonatorum is hyperacute and aggressive. Unlike most surface infections, N. gonorrhoeae can invade an intact corneal epithelium, causing rapid keratitis, ulceration, and perforation.
Step 3: This sight-threatening corneal damage is why historic blindness in newborns was driven by gonococcus, prompting prophylaxis (Crede's silver nitrate, now erythromycin ointment) at birth.
Step 4: The other organisms either cause milder disease (Chlamydia, more common but rarely blinding) or are rare pathogens here (Klebsiella, Enterobacter). The blindness-causing answer is Neisseria gonorrhoeae.
\[\boxed{\text{Neisseria gonorrhoeae}}\]
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