Fungal keratitis in far north Queensland, Australia

Abstract

A significant proportion of the patients presenting to Cairns Base Hospital with fungal keratitis are Indigenous. The very high percentage of cases due to filamentous fungi is similar to other tropical regions of the world. The very low rates of Candida infection and steroid use prior to presentation are in contrast to studies from temperate areas such as Melbourne and Philadelphia.

Epidemiology of fungal keratitis in Queensland, Australia

“…[5][6][7] The highest risk for fungal keratitis occurs in tropical developing countries with significant agricultural economic activity, where fungi may cause up to 50% of microbial keratitides. [11][12][13][14] In the Australian context, two single-centre retrospective studies of the epidemiology of fungal keratitis in Far North Queensland, 15 which is tropical, as well as Victoria and Tasmania, 16 which are temperate, have been published. [11][12][13][14] In the Australian context, two single-centre retrospective studies of the epidemiology of fungal keratitis in Far North Queensland, 15 which is tropical, as well as Victoria and Tasmania, 16 which are temperate, have been published.…”

Queratitis por Lasiodiplodia theobromae: comunicación de un caso y revisión de la literatura

“…Sin embargo, L. theobromae sigue siendo una causa excepcional de queratitis micótica con menos de 50 casos publicados en el mundo. En la Tabla 1 se presentan los casos de queratitis humana causada por L. theobromae reportados en la literatura médica [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] .…”

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“…In the literature, therapeutic penetrating corneal transplant has been reported to range between 12% and 38% of fungal keratitis. [10][11][12] Nevertheless, this surgery has disadvantages including a high incidence of graft infection and failure. 6,[23][24][25][26] The graft survival rate for therapeutic corneal transplant is related with the type of infective agent, the severity of inflammation, surgical timing, donor tissue quality, graft size, preand postoperative medical treatment, and perforation existence.…”

“…The surgery rate in our series was 48.57% among all culture-proven fungal keratitis patients, which is higher than that reported in the literature. [10][11][12] Graft rejection is an expected complication of therapeutic corneal transplant surgery. The rejection rate of therapeutic corneal transplant for fungal keratitis is reported to be 29.60%, which is higher than that of other keratitis types.…”

“…8,9 In the literature, therapeutic corneal transplant has been reported to range in 12% to 38% of fungal keratitis. [10][11][12] Here, we report our clinical results of refractory fungal keratitis patients who underwent therapeutic corneal transplant surgery to save the eye and treat infection.…”