Evaluation of 292 ocular swabs, vitreous and aqueous cultures in pathologies with severe prognosis during a 24-month observation period

Introduction. Different part of the eye can be infected by bacteria, fungi, parasites and viruses (5). The aim of this study was to assess the importance of ocular swabs culture in pathologies with severe prognosis. Methods.We examined 292 patients with a severe diseases: 98% of those used topical and/or systemic antibiotic therapy.All sample were cultured both into a chocolate agar medium and into an Haemophilus selective agar and, at the same time, inoculated onto a modified blood cuture. Results. 75 out of 292 (25.7%) patients tested negative.The most representative microorganisms were: Coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) (20%), Staphylococcus aureus (12%), member of the Pseudomonadaceae family (10.9%), Streptococcus pneumoniae (9%), alpha haemolytic streptococci (8.2%), Fungus and Yeast (5.4%). Considering the type of cultures: 54.5% of the vitreous cultures were positive and 45.5% were negative; 38.2% of the positive cultures were referred to endophthalmitis, with prevalence of CNS (32.5%) and S. aureus (22.9%), while 27.6% were due to an abscesces, with prevalence of members of the Pseudomonadaceae family (53.3%), CNS (23.3%) and S. pneumoniae (16.7%). Conclusions. This data suggest the importance of the ocular swabs, vitreous and aqueous cultures in the therapeutic approach of the diseases with a severe prognosis and emphasize the good performance of the modified Bactec Plus system

Peptostreptococcus tetradius: a new pathogenous for the acute ocular infections?

In our Ophthalmologic Hospital (Turin ,Italy) was isolated from some years a new pathogenous, in the our experience, expecially in the ocular infections and endophthalmitis. The our casistic of the genus Peptostreptococcus in five years is of 23 cases. In this work are described also 2 clinic cases with final discussion. We have also examinated the sensibility of this pathogenous versus all the antibiotics for topical ocular use

2777 cultures on conjunctivitis (whose nature is not determined): epidemiological survey in the course of 7 years of observation

Our survey considers all pathogens isolated in patients with conjunctivitis (whose nature must be determined) from January 2000 to December 2007 in Ophthalmic Hospital of Turin. Overall we examined 2879 strains of pathogens from 12874 patients. Among the most important isolates, Staphylococcus aureus represented 32%, while Streptococcus pneumoniae 16.6%. The Streptococcaceae were 632 strains in total, with 21.9% while Moraxella genus with 269 cases represented 9.3%. About the sensitivity to the antibiotics for ocular topic use, our data evaluated Levofloxacin as the most effective in vitro, followed, at a distance, by Ampicillin, Chloramphenicol and Ofloxacin. According to the collected data, one patient out of 5, affected by conjunctivitis (whose nature is to be determined) shows positive culture. Therefore it is very important to carry out always the cultural ocular test in order to provide the oculist with the right therapeutic indication

The Management of Dry Eye Disease: Proceedings of Italian Dry Eye Consensus Group Using the Delphi Method

Dry eye disease (DED) is a highly prevalent, chronic and progressive condition that affects 5-33% of the world's adult population [...]