2777 cultures on conjunctivitis (whose nature is not determined): epidemiological survey in the course of 7 years of observation

Abstract

Our survey considers all pathogens isolated in patients with conjunctivitis (whose nature must be determined) from January 2000 to December 2007 in Ophthalmic Hospital of Turin. Overall we examined 2879 strains of pathogens from 12874 patients. Among the most important isolates, Staphylococcus aureus represented 32%, while Streptococcus pneumoniae 16.6%. The Streptococcaceae were 632 strains in total, with 21.9% while Moraxella genus with 269 cases represented 9.3%. About the sensitivity to the antibiotics for ocular topic use, our data evaluated Levofloxacin as the most effective in vitro, followed, at a distance, by Ampicillin, Chloramphenicol and Ofloxacin. According to the collected data, one patient out of 5, affected by conjunctivitis (whose nature is to be determined) shows positive culture. Therefore it is very important to carry out always the cultural ocular test in order to provide the oculist with the right therapeutic indication.