Introduction: Cornea is responsible for three quarters of dioptric power of the eye and hence any injury to it can cause considerable visual disturbances. Avascularity, while absolutely essential for optical purposes is boon to multiplying organisms. In India there are about 18.7 million blind people. The incidence of corneal blindness is 15.4%, the corneal ulcer contributing (9.34%), corneal dystrophy (0.49%), keratomalacia (1.68%), corneal opacity (3.67%) and others like keratoconus (0.09%) of this. Corneal blindness is a major problem in India, which adds a substantial burden to the community in general and health care resources all over the world. Further, individuals with corneal blindness are usually of a younger age group compared with those suffering from cataract. Hence, in terms blind years the impact of corneal blindness is greater.

Objectives:

1. To study the clinical features, etiology and microbiological profile of suppurative keratitis.
2. To study the course, final visual and therapeutic outcome of the cases.
3. To study the various factors affecting the outcomes and their relationship with the micro biological profile and clinical appearance.
4. To identify the signs and symptoms (which carry a poorer prognosis or may indicate a fulminant course).

Materials and Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted at Department of Ophthalmic, PES Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Kuppam study period between Jan 2018 - 2019. A total 80 subjects who diagnosed has corneal ulcer attending in department of ophthalmology, PESIMSR. The following inclusion and exclusion criteria was used to conduct the research programme inclusion criteria: All cases of suspected Microbial keratitis visiting cornea clinic between January 2018 to June 2019. Exclusion criteria: All cases of clinically suspected non-bacterial and non-fungal keratitis, known cases of degeneration ulcer like Moorens ulcer and Terriens. Patients below 18 years of age and patients unable to give valid consent and one eyed patients.

Results: Total 85 cases was considered for the study group. Out of which male comprises 52 (61.18%) and female was 33 (38.82%) with sex ratio 1:2. The significance was tested based on the logistic regression analysis. Irrespective of gender it was found that incidence and exposure of culture organisms was statistically significant (p < 0.01). The laterality was Correlated between Culture organisms, the analysis was done multivariate logistic regression method. As per the resulted findings, the most occurrences of the organisms was Fusarium 23 (27.06%) (p < 0.01) followed by Bacillus species 14 (16.47%) (p < 0.01), Aspergillums fumigates 12 (14.12%) (p < 0.01), Strep. epidermidis 13 (15.29%) (p < 0.01), Staph aureus 11 (12.94%) (p < 0.01), Aspergillums flavus 8 (9.41%) (p < 0.01) and fewer number of organisms are showed to be Strep. pneumococcus 4 (4.71%) (p < 0.01). The occurrence of the organisms when compared with laterality and other associated factors is found to be statistically significant.

Conclusion: The definitive diagnosis of ulcers caused by multiple organisms can only be arrived at by microbiological evaluation. Accurate diagnostic tests not only play a key role in patient management but also reduce the risk of the patient developing long-term complications.

Keywords: Organisms; Cornea; Incidence; Culture Organisms; Prevalence

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Citation

Citation: Mohan Das T., et al. “A Clinical Profile of Corneal Ulcer in a Rural Tertiary Care Hospital”. Acta Scientific Ophthalmology 3.7 (2020): 02-12.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2020 Mohan Das T., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.