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Review
. 2011 Jun;95(6):762-7.
doi: 10.1136/bjo.2009.169607. Epub 2011 Apr 8.

Geographic variations in microbial keratitis: an analysis of the peer-reviewed literature

Ameet Shah  1 , Arun Sachdev, David Coggon, Parwez Hossain
Affiliations
Review

Geographic variations in microbial keratitis: an analysis of the peer-reviewed literature

Ameet Shah et al. Br J Ophthalmol. 2011 Jun.

Abstract

The epidemiology of microbial keratitis has been investigated in several studies by analysis of organisms cultured from corneal scrapes. However, a comparison of the frequency of different organisms causing keratitis in different parts of the world is lacking. The authors present a review incorporating an analysis of data from studies worldwide. The data provide a comparison of the frequency of culture-positive organisms found in different parts of the world. Associations between a country's gross national income and types of causative organism are explored. The highest proportion of bacterial corneal ulcers was reported in studies from North America, Australia, The Netherlands and Singapore. The highest proportion of staphylococcal ulcers was found in a study from Paraguay, while the highest proportion of pseudomonas ulcers was reported in a study from Bangkok. The highest proportions of fungal infections were found in studies from India and Nepal. The Spearman correlation coefficient demonstrated statistically significant correlations between gross national income and percentages of bacterial (0.85 (95% CI 0.68 to 0.91, p<0.0001)), fungal (-0.81 (95% CI -0.90 to -0.66, p<0.0001)) and streptococcal (-0.43 (95% CI -0.66 to -0.12, p=0.009)) isolates.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Scatterplot showing percentage of bacterial isolates in studies not looking exclusively at bacterial causes of microbial keratitis plotted against gross national income (US Dollars per capita)
Figure 2
Figure 2
Scatterplot to show percentage of fungal isolates plotted against gross national income (US Dollars per capita)
Figure 3
Figure 3
Scatterplot to show streptococcal isolates (expressed as a percentage of total bacterial isolates) plotted against gross national income (US Dollars per capita)
Figure 4
Figure 4
Scatterplot to show pseudomonas isolates (expressed as a percentage of total bacterial isolates) plotted against contact lens wearers (as a percentage of total number of patients included in study)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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