There is still an appreciable incidence of neonatal gonococcic conjunctivitis in spite of legislation in forty-six of the United States requiring the instillation of silver compounds into the conjunctival sacs of every baby at birth.1 From 1938 through 1942, 222 cases were reported in the city of New York2 and 562 cases in the state of New Jersey.3 The total number of cases reported from 1939 through 1943 in the city of New York in the municipal hospitals alone was 126.4
An investigation was carried out in the service for newborn infants at Harlem Hospital in order to prove the value of sulfathiazole in the prevention of gonococcic conjunctivitis. The routine instillation of silver nitrate into the conjunctival sacs of newborn infants was supplemented with the oral administration of sulfathiazole. Beginning Feb. 1, 1943, sulfathiazole was given orally, as a prophylactic, to all babies born in