'Innocent' neonatal inclusion conjunctivitis: parental origins and complications.

Family physicians must be familiar with the origins and complications of inclusion conjunctivitis caused by Chlamydia trachomatis, since this infection can lead to pneumonia or otitis media in infants. Because nongonococcal and postgonococcal urethritis in men is frequently chlamydial in origin, these men comprise a source of infection for women who eventually become mothers. These women may harbor the organism asymptomatically in their genital tracts before passing it on to their offspring during birth. Diagnosis and treatment of this infection is now recommended not only for neonates but also for the mother and her sexual partner.