Epidemiology and Economic Cost Analysis of Microbial Keratitis from a Tertiary Referral Hospital in Australia

Abstract

Microbial keratitis is the most common cause of infective vision loss. The causative organism varies by region, and most cases require intensive antimicrobial therapy. The purpose of this study was to analyse the causative organisms of microbial keratitis, its presentation and economic burden from a tertiary referral hospital in Australia. A retrospective review of 160 cases of microbial keratitis was performed, over a 5-year period from 2015–2020. A wide variety of costs were considered to determine the economic burden, using standardized data from the Independent Hospital Pricing Authority and the cost of personal income loss. Our study showed the most commonly occurring pathogens were Herpes Simplex (16%), Staphylococcus aureus (15.1%) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (14.3%). A total of 59.3% of patients were admitted, with a median length of admission of 7 days. Median cost for all presentations of microbial keratitis was AUD 8013 (USD 5447), with costs significantly increasing with admission. The total annual cost of microbial keratitis within Australia is estimated to be AUD 13.58 million (USD 9.23 million). Our findings demonstrate that microbial keratitis represents a significant economic burden for eye-related diseases and the key driving factor for the cost is the length of admission. Minimizing the duration of admission, or opting for outpatient management where appropriate, would significantly reduce the cost of treatment for microbial keratitis.

Prevalence of Bacterial Keratitis in Contact Lens Wearing Female Medical Students in Sana'a, Yemen

“…In the current study, of the 72% pathogenic bacteria which isolated from corneal specimens collected from target students, 42% were Staphylococcus aurous, 22% coagulase negative staphylococci, 6% Streptococcus species and 2% were Pseudomonas species. The results of this present study were similar to other studies conducted in Sana'a and Taiz cities in Yemen (20,21), as well as studies conducted in UK (22) and Australia (23). Other studies reported dissimilar results, Hossein Hatam et al, 2021 and F Stapleton et al, 2012 showed that, the most common isolated bacteria were Pseudomonas aeruginosa and the next common organism was Staphylococcus species especially coagulasenegative species (3,24,25).…”

Antimicrobial Susceptibility of Bacterial Pathogens from Patients with Ocular Surface Infections in Germany, 2020–2021: A Comparison with the Data from Three Previous National Studies

“…Low resistance rates in S. pneumoniae have also been reported in other studies, for example, in an Australian study that investigated the epidemiology of microbial keratitis, and in a nationwide study in the USA (Antibiotic Resistance Monitoring in Ocular Microorganisms-ARMOR) that monitored the development of resistance between 2009 and 2018 [12,13]. The isolates from the susceptibility study of the Paul-Ehrlich-Society 2019-2020 were also 100% susceptible to levofloxacin [8].…”

Herpes simplex keratitis: A brief clinical overview

“…A novel antiviral agent, SC93305, reportedly showed effectiveness against acyclovir-resistant strains of HSV-1 & HSV-2; SC93305 also reportedly did not interfere with host humoral immune responses[ 181 ]. Amentoflavone was found to inhibit resistant strains of HSV-1 including HSV-1/106, HSV-1/153, and HSV-1/blue by interfering with early-stage transcription of viral genes[ 182 ].…”