DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2017.v05i05.016

Pages: 1794-1800

Infectious keratitis is a leading cause of corneal blindness in developing countries. Corneal ulceration results in 1.5–2 million new cases of corneal blindness annually, posing a major public health problem according to the World Health Organization (WHO) reports. The aim is to determine the predisposing factors and to identify the specific microbial agents responsible for corneal infections. The study group comprised of 120 patients attending cornea clinic at Department of Ophthalmology, Govt. Rajaji Hospital, Madurai [tertiary care Hospital] and Aravind Eye hospital[A private sector hospital dedicated to ophthalmology], Madurai during the period from December 2010 to July 2011. Microorganisms were identified by using standard microbiological procedures. Out of 120 patients 75 cases were culture positive. Among 75patients, 48 were males and 27 were female patients. The maximum incidence was seen in 3rd to 5th decade. Various predisposing factors such as trauma, Previous ocular surgery ,Steroid application, Lid abnormalities and H/o prior anti-fungal use have been identified the prevalence of bacterial isolates are S. pneumoniae [40%]Pseudomonas [31%], Nocardia[18%] and S. viridans [9.09%]. The prevalence of fungal spp was Fusarium [52%], A. flavus [30%], A. fumigatus [7.5%] A. Niger [5.6%] and Bipolar is [3.7%]. Keratitis is common in 3rd to 5th decade with male predominance with agricultural background. Trauma is the most common predisposing factor among the bacterial isolate, S. pneumoniae is the most common isolate and Fusarium is the most common fungal isolate to produce keratitis.