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Review
. 2020 Apr 6;15(2):128-137.
doi: 10.18502/jovr.v15i2.6729. eCollection 2020 Apr-Jun.

Etiology and Risk Factors for Infectious Keratitis in South Texas

Madeleine Puig  1 , Menachem Weiss  1 , Ricardo Salinas  1 , Daniel A Johnson  1 , Ahmad Kheirkhah  1
Affiliations
Review

Etiology and Risk Factors for Infectious Keratitis in South Texas

Madeleine Puig et al. J Ophthalmic Vis Res. .

Abstract

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.

Keywords: Bacteria; Corneal Ulcer; Fungus; Keratitis; Acanthamoeba.

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Conflict of interest statement

There are no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Seasonal distribution of occurrence of bacterial (A) and fungal (B) keratitis in South Texas.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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