Journal List > J Korean Ophthalmol Soc > v.53(3) > 1009305

Lim and Lee: Analysis of Inpatients with Bacterial Keratitis Over a 12-Year Period: Pathogenic Organisms and Antibiotic Resistance

Abstract

Purpose

To investigate the distribution of bacterial keratitis isolates and the shifting trends of in vitro antibiotic susceptibility of the isolates for inpatients with bacterial keratitis.

Methods

Three hundred ninety-two bacterial isolates with 366 positive culture cases from consecutive corneal scrapes of 988 clinically diagnosed bacterial keratitis inpatients hospitalized at Yeungnam University Hospital between January 1998 and December 2009 were retrospectively reviewed. The bacteriological profiles and in vitro resistance were evaluated in the first and second six-year periods.

Results

The percentage of positive cultures was 37.0% (366/988). The commonly isolated Gram-positive and Gram-negative organisms were S. epidermidis (98; 25.0%) and P. aeruginosa (41; 10.5%), respectively. The ratio of Gram-positive to Gram-negative isolates was 1.24:1. The Gram-positive isolates significantly decreased compared to the Gram-negative isolates in the last six-year period (45.3% versus 54.7%, respectively) relative to those in the first six-year period (66.1% versus 33.9%, respectively). S. epidermidis and S. aureus decreased, and E. cloacae, S. marcescens, and S. maltophilia increased in the last six-year period. The resistance of fluoroquinolone to the Gram-positive isolates, though not statistically significant, tended to increase to 34.1% from 21.5% (p=0.061), and the methicillin-resistant S. aureus tended to increase to 54.2% from 30.0% (p=0.055).

Conclusions

S. epidermidis and P. aeruginosa were the most common bacterial keratitis isolates in Gram-positive and Gram-negative isolates. The Gram-positive isolates tended to decrease, though the Gram-negative organisms tended to increase in the last six-year period compared to the first six-year period. Empirical antibiotic selection should be based on local susceptibility patterns and distribution of bacterial isolates.

Figures and Tables

Figure 1
Sex and age distribution of patients with identified bacterial isolates. Between 1998 and 2009, the most prevalent age group for patients with identified bacterial isolates was the elderly group of over 60-year-old (184 eyes, 50.3%). The male-female ratio (the number of males with identified bacterial isolates divided by the number of females with identified bacterial isolates) was 1.13:1. In early adulthood (20-39 years), the male-female ratio was 0.44:1, which shows that more young women than young men are enrolled in this age-specific group.
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Table 1
Organisms in bacterial isolates during 1998-2009
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*The p-value was calculated using Fisher's exact test to compare the distribution of the bacterial isolates between the first six-year period (1998-2003) and the last six-year period (2004-2009).

Table 2
Sex characteristics of patients with identified bacterial isolates
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S. epidermidis = Staphylococcus epidermidis; S. aurues = Staphylococcus aureus; S. pneumoniae = Streptococcus pneumoniae; S. mitis = Streptococcus mitis; E. faecalis = Enterococcus faecalis; E. faecium = Enterococcus faecium; P. aeruginosa = Pseudomonas aeruginosa; S. maltophilia = Sternotrophomonas maltophilia; S. marcescens = Serratia marcescens; E. cloacae = Enterobacter cloacae; E. aerogenes = Enterobacter aerogenes; K. pnemoniae = Klebsiella pneumoniae; A. baumanii = Acinetobacter baumanii.

*The p-value was calculated using the chi-square test to compare the distribution of bacterial isolates between the first six-year period (1998-2003) and the last six-year period (2004-2009); The odds ratio for comparison of the bacterial isolates between the male and female groups was calculated using the two-by-two cross-table in 1998-2009; The p-value was calculated using Fisher's exact test.

Table 3
Distribution of the bacterial keratitis isolates in different age groups
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*n1:n2, n1 = number of patients with identified bacterial isolates in the first six-year period (1998-2003); n2 = number of patients with identified bacterial isolates in the last six-year period (2004-2009); The percentage was calculated for each bacterial isolate throughout the entire study period (1998-2009). The sum of the percentage with each age-specific subgroup for each bacterial isolate is 100.0%; The p-value was calculated using Fisher's exact test to compare the distribution of each Gram-positive isolates with the distribution of total Gram-positive isolates; §The p-value was calculated using Fisher's exact test to compare the distribution of each Gram-negative isolates with the distribution of total Gram-negative isolates.

Table 4
Antimicrobial resistance of overall Gram-positive bacterial keratitis isolates (1998-2009)
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*The p-value was calculated using Fisher's exact test.

Table 5
Antimicrobial resistance of overall Gram-negative bacterial keratitis isolates (1998-2009)
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TMP/SMX = trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole.

*The p-value was calculated using Fisher's exact test.

Table 6
Antimicrobial resistance of Gram-positive bacterial keratitis isolates (1998-2009)
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*Percentage of antibiotic resistance; p-value was calculated using chi-square test; p-value was calculated using Fisher's exact test; §None-tested.

Table 7
Antimicrobial resistance of Gram-negative bacterial keratitis isolates (1998-2009)
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TMP/SMX = trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole.

*Percentage of antibiotic resistance; p-value was calculated using chi-square test; p-value was calculated using Fisher's exact test; §None-tested.

Table 8
Comparison of bacterial isolates with the results of other studies
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