Study of Fungal Infections in Clinically  Suspected Cases of Keratitis

Dr Payal R. Dholaria; Dr Jayshree D. Pethani; Dr Jigar k.Gusani; Dr Parul D. Shah

Volume : II, Issue : VII, July - 2013

Study of Fungal Infections in Clinically Suspected Cases of Keratitis

Dr Payal R. Dholaria, Dr Jayshree D. Pethani, Dr Jigar K. Gusani, Dr Parul D. Shah

Abstract :

Objective: This study was conducted to identify the aetiological fungal agents and to determine the epidemiological characteristics of fungal keratitis. Methods: 300 patients with suspected fungal keratitis were studied from July 2011-March 2012.The corneal specimens were collected and processed.The patients with 10% KOH mount and culture positive fungal keratitis were analyzed. Results: In 54 samples, fungus were isolated. Out of that, 53(98.14%) were filamentous fungi while 1(1.85 %) was yeast. The hyaline fungi like Fusarium species 28(51.85%),Aspergillus flavus 7(12.96%), Aspergillus fumigates 1(1.85%), Acremonium sp.1(1.85%) and other less common were Paecilomycetes sp., Rhizopus sp., Absidia sp. The dematiaceous fungi like Curvularia sp. 3(5.55%), Bipolaris sp. 2(3.70%) and other less common were Fonsecaea pedrosoi,Aureobasidium pullulans. Conclusion: Our study shows that the Fusarium sp. were the most common followed by Aspergillus sp. Laboratory diagnosis is essential for treatment to avoid complication.