Prevalence and determination of external and intraocular infections in Baghdad city

Abstract

Background: Ocular infections conceded as one of the most commonly encountered infections with the more frequently affected areas are the conjunctiva, cornea and the eyelids. Bacterial conjunctivitis may begin in one eye, and then spread to the other one. This study was aimed to determine the prevalence and analyze ocular isolates that are obtained from patients with suspected ocular infections and their susceptibility to the most common antibiotics. Methods: The study included 314 patients attended to Ibn Al-Haitham hospital of ophthalmology in Baghdad. Their age ranged from 15 to 78 years. The study extended from May to November2018. Results: There were 240(76%) patients who had culture-positive bacteria, patients with extra ocular infections were 167(70%) and patients with intraocular infections were 73(30%). The results revealed that the number of patients with extra ocular infections were 91(59%) and 54(63%) with intraocular infections from Baghdad. The highest ratio of patients with external and intraocular infections belonged to the age group (70±0.21) years while the lowest ratio belonged to the age group (22±0.3) years. The results also found that 68(57%) of the patients were with extra and 55(45%) with intraocular infections had history of diabetes mellitus while 34(29%) of patients with intraocular infections had arthritis. The organisms cultured from the ocular surfaces (cornea, conjunctiva) accounted for the majority of 175(73%) of cases followed by the intraocular (aqueous humor and vitreous fluid) which were 65(27%). The highest rate was found in conjunctiva 155(65%) followed by vitreous fluid 50(21%) then cornea 20(8%) and aqueous humor 15(6%). Grampositive bacteria were the most prominent pathogens for external and intraocular infections 147(61.25%). The most common species for external ocular infections were S. epidermidis 23(10%), P. aeruginosa 21(8.5%) and B. cepacia 20(8.3%) while the common species for the intraocular infections were S. epidermidis 12(6%) then S. hominis 7(2.8%). The results of antibiotics susceptibility showed that Staphylococcus spp isolates were susceptible to Cefuroxime and Ceftazidime (89% and 88%, respectively). Pseudomonas spp isolates were susceptible to Cloramphenicol (94%). Burkholderia cepacia isolates were highly susceptible to Ceftazidime (80%) while Kocuria sppe were susceptible to both Cefuroxime and Levofloxacin (96%). Enterobacter spp isolates were susceptible to Neomycin (81.4%) while E.coli isolates were susceptible to Levofloxacin and Neomycin (66%). Conclusion:The bacterial profile of extra and intraocular infections included the majority of conjunctivitis and vitreous fluid infections followed by corneal and aqueous humor. Gram-positive bacteria were the most prominent pathogens for external and intraocular infections.

Bacterial isolates, their antimicrobial susceptibility pattern, and associated factors of external ocular infections among patients attending eye clinic at Debre Markos Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Northwest Ethiopia

“…Bacteria are the major contributor to ocular infections worldwide [ 3 ]. The World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes corneal diseases as the major cause of vision loss second to cataracts, and an emerging cause of visual disability and blindness worldwide [ 4 , 5 ].…”