Answer
Reason for physicians placing antimicrobial agents in the eyes of babies at birth:
When babies are birthed vaginally they come in contact with microbes present in the birth canal of the mother and this could be harmful, especially if the mother is infected with a sexually transmitted disease. Hence antimicrobial agents are placed in the eyes of the newborns.
Examples:
1) If the mother has chlamydial infections and the baby gets infected at birth, the newborn can develop an eye disease called trachoma which cause nontraumatic blindness.
2) If the mother has gonorrheal infections, the babies birthed vaginally can get eye infections resulting in the inflammation of cornea, conjunctiva and blindness.
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