Microbial Keratitis – a One Year Experience from a University Hospital of Lucknow

Aim of study: To study the etiological profile and risk factors for microbial keratitis in patients presenting to Ophthalmology Department in King George’s Medical University, Lucknow.

Material and Methods: A total of 120 corneal scrapings were performed in patients presenting withcorneal ulcers between August 2016 to July 2017. Gram staining , KOH mount and culture on blood agar and Sabouraud’s dextrose agar was done for all the scrapings received to identify bacterial and fungal pathogens.

Results: Microbial etiology was established in 41/120 (34.16%) scrapings. The most common risk factor for corneal ulcer was found to be trauma (68/120) and trauma due to vegetative matter was the commonest cause of traumatic injury (31/68). Out of the 41 positive cultures, 34.14% (14/41) were bacterial while 65.85% (27/41) were fungal in etiology. The most common bacterial isolate was 50% (7/14) were Coagulase negative Staphylococcus spp while the most common fungal isolate was Aspergillus spp 25.93% (7/27). Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was done for both bacterial and fungal isolates. None of the fungal isolate were resistant to voriconazole and majority of the bacterial isolates were also found to be susceptible to major drug groups.

Conclusion: Trauma due to vegetative matter is the most common predisposing factor for microbial keratitis in our setting. Fungal infections was commoner than bacterial. The “regional” findings play an important role in public health implications to understand the etiology better and to initiate appropriate treatment to save the eye of the patient.