Purpose: To determine the causative organisms and associated risk factors for infectious keratitis in South Texas.
Methods: This retrospective study was performed at a tertiary teaching hospital system in South Texas. Medical records of all patients who presented with infectious keratitis from 2012 to 2018 were reviewed. Only patients with culture-proven bacterial, fungal, and Acanthamoeba keratitis were included.
Results: In total, 182 eyes of 181 patients had culture-proven bacterial, fungal, or Acanthamoeba keratitis. The age of patients ranged from 3 to 93 years, with a mean of 48.3 ± 20.8 years. The most common etiologic agent was bacteria, with 173 bacterial cultures (95.1%) recovered, followed by 13 fungal cultures (7.1%), and 3 Acanthamoeba cultures (1.6%). Of the 218 bacterial isolates, coagulase-negative Staphylococcus was the most common (25.7%), followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (23.4%), Staphylococcus aureus (11.0%), and Moraxella (7.8%). Fusarium was the most common fungal isolate (46.2%). The most common risk factors for infectious keratitis included contact lens wear (32.4%), underlying corneal disease (17.6%), trauma (14.3%), and ocular surface disease (13.7%).
Conclusions: Bacteria are the most common cause of infectious keratitis in this patient population, with coagulase-negative Staphylococcus and Pseudomonas as the most common isolates. The prevalence of culture-positive fungal keratitis is significantly lower than that of bacterial keratitis. Contact lens wear is the most common risk factor associated with infectious keratitis in South Texas.
To report the ocular and systemic risk factors, clinical manifestations, and management outcomes of Moraxella keratitis. Methods: This retrospective study included patients with culture-proven Moraxella keratitis in South Texas between 2012 and 2018. Clinical data including demographics, ocular and systemic risk factors, clinical presentation, speciation, and treatment course were collected. Results: Fourteen eyes of 14 patients had culture-proven Moraxella keratitis which made up 8.1% of cases of culture-proven bacterial keratitis in the period studied. These included 10 men and 4 women with a mean age of 52.7611.3 years. Ten patients (71.4%) had different ocular risk factors such as ocular trauma, corneal foreign body, contact lens use, preceding viral keratitis, neurotrophic cornea, and recent corneal transplant on topical steroids. Systemic risk factors included diabetes mellitus, systemic immunosuppressive therapy, cancer chemotherapy, and AIDS. There was no specific clinical manifestation. The size of stromal infiltration on initial presentation varied among the cases, with 71.4% stromal infiltrations of 4 mm or less. The patients were managed with fortified tobramycin, fortified vancomycin, and moxifloxacin eye drops. No eyes required surgical intervention during treatment for the active infection, except for one eye with pre-existing no light perception that was enucleated because of chronic pain. Conclusions: Moraxella keratitis is a less frequent form of bacterial keratitis that appears more prevalent in patients with previous ocular conditions. Early diagnosis of this infection and medical treatment with a conventional corneal ulcer regimen can result in good clinical outcomes without the need for a surgical intervention.
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