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Most conjunctivitis in children is attributed to bacterial infection and is managed with topical antibiotics (JAMA 2022; 327:2231). To update the epidemiology of this condition, researchers enrolled 194 children with acute infectious conjunctivitis at two health systems in Colorado and Wisconsin from 2019 through 2023; they also enrolled 196 age-matched controls who either were healthy or had upper respiratory illnesses without conjunctivitis. Conjunctival swabs were collected and tested for 52 bacteria and viruses via PCR testing.
Bacteria were isolated in 76% of children with conjunctivitis, 58% of healthy controls, and 56% of controls with upper respiratory illnesses; however, only Haemophilus influenzae was associated significantly with …