Microbial profile of suppurative keratitis a prospective study

This is a prospective study on the microbial profile of suppurative keratitis conducted at Regional Institute of Ophthalmology, Trivandrum for a period of 2 years from March 2006 to February 2008. The objective was to identify the specific causative organisms from patients with suppurative keratitis in a tertiary referral eye care center in South Kerala. All consecutive cases of clinically diagnosed corneal ulcers were evaluated. Corneal scrapings were performed and processed for direct microscopy and culture on appropriate media. A total of 1221 cases of corneal ulcers were evaluated. Causative organism was isolated in 343 cases (28.09%). Among them, 240 cases (69.9%) were fungi and 97 cases (28.27%) were bacteria. Acanthamoeba was isolated in six cases (1.74%). Among fungi Fusarium species and Aspergillus species were predominant (31.66%) followed by Penicillium species (24.58%). Among bacteria, Gram-positive cocci (26.80%) were predominant followed by Pseudomonas (24.74%).