Microbiological Profile, Antimicrobial Susceptibility And Treatment Outcome Of Corneal Abscesses At Iota Teaching Hospital

Abstract

Introduction: Corneal abscess or infectious keratitis or suppurative keratitis is defined as an infection of the cornea by a germ (bacterium, fungus and parasite) associated with signs of inflammation. It is a purulent infiltration of the corneal stroma. It occurs very rarely on a healthy cornea but appears more frequently on a defective corneal epithelium. Corneal abscess is a diagnostic and therapeutic emergency which can lead to anatomical and/or functional loss of the eyeball; hence the realization of this study whose aim is to contribute to the improvement of the management of corneal abscess in Bamako.

Method: this was a cross-sectionnal, analytical and descriptive study lasting 16 months from December 2019 to April 2020.

Results: During our study, 286 bacteriological samples came back positive out of a total of 472 bacteriological samples taken. The germs mainly isolated were Staphylococcus aureus (48.11%) followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (15.19%).Corneal abscess is one of the main causes of ocular morbidity and blindness in the world and especially in developing countries where hygiene is inadequate.

Conclusion: Our study underlines the importance of case-by-case management of corneal abscesses