Bacterial Keratitis Risk Factors, Pathogens and Antibiotic Susceptibilities: A 5- Year Review of Cases at Dubai hospital, Dubai

Abstract

Objective: Microbial keratitis is a sight threatening infection of the cornea. Its incidence has been increased in the past few years, with the contact lens wear as the major risk factor. In the past few years other risk factors have also come up in light. We thus aimed to present a 5-year study comprising of 37 patients with microbial keratitis who yielded only positive culture; other cases with negative cultures were excluded. Methods: Local microbiology database and retrospective audit of patients (who had a corneal scraping for culture over a 5-year period) medical records were used in this study. Results: We found that in our study also contact lens wear is the major risk factor for microbial keratitis. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was the most widely recognized causative organism isolated, present in 37% of the patient’s cultures. We found an association between risk factors for keratitis and variables collectively using multivariate analysis (p value<0.001), and an association of age with the risk factor for keratitis on performing separate ANOVA for each variable (p value<0.001). Conclusion: This study will help the clinical management of patients with keratitis and will raise awareness of sufficient lens care and disinfection practices.