Evaluation of Etiologic Agents and Antibiotic Susceptibility of Patients with Corneal Ulcer

Introduction & Corneal ulcer is one of the most important medical emergencies that in the absence of on time diagnosis and treatment can lead to loss of vision. Therefore, identification of microorganisms and their response to drugs in each region is important. The aim of this study was to determine the most common organisms that cause keratitis and antibiotic sensitivity in this region.
In this cross-sectional study, the effect of various factors such as age, sex, demographic properties, risk factors, culture results and antibiotic sensitivity of patients with corneal ulcer were studied in Farshchian Hospital.
In this study, 80 patients with corneal ulcers were investigated. 46 cases with corneal ulcers had positive results (55.7%). 54% of culture-positives were men and 46% were female. Age distribution of outbreaks in two age ranges including under ten years and 50 to 69 years of age were more than others. Among the patients, trauma was the most important risk factor for corneal ulcer. Of the 80 evaluated corneal ulcers 57.5% of patients had positive corneal culture and 42.5% showed negative culture results. 84.4% out of 57.5% culture positive samples had positive bacterial culture, and 15.6% had positive fungal cultures. The most common microorganism causing corneal ulcers was staph aureus with 36.8 percent among which Staph epidermidis (21.7%) is the most prevalent. The corneal ulcer causing microorganisms responded well to Ciprofloxacin therapy.
The result of this study shows that culture and antibiogram of corneal ulcers are essential to determine the cause of ulcer and antibiotic susceptibility. Before obtaining culture results and antibiotic sensitivity, the most appropriate antibiotic must be selected as the empirical therapy based on the epidemiological conditions and the most common microorganism.