Epidemiology and Clinical Significance of Ocular Infection

Infection can be the primary cause of ocular tissue damage and visual loss, or it can complicate many types of exogenous injury and systemic or local disease processes. The circumstances associated with the development of ocular infection tend to differ between populations in more economically developed countries and those of less prosperous areas of the world. Countries that are less economically developed may not be able to control endemic infections that cause large-scale visual loss on a population basis. When partial or complete blindness is a relatively common condition in a population, reduced individual productivity can occur that leads to further suppression of economic growth in what is already a resource-poor area. Ocular infection in more developed regions of the world often arises as a preventable complication of contact lens use or ophthalmic surgical procedures or represents a significant form of increased morbidity in patients with systemic diseases that cause immune suppression or vascular compromise. Such infections can contribute to less effective visual rehabilitation and increase the cost of medical care. When assessing any patient, clinical consideration and exclusion of infection is essential. With modern laboratory studies, pathogenic organisms are nearly always classifiable, and effective treatments are available in many cases that can lead to improvement in the patient’s vision and quality of life.