<i>Corynebacterium</i> spp as causative agents of microbial keratitis.

Abstract

To report the clinical and microbiological profile of keratitis caused by <i>Corynebacterium</i> spp. The medical and microbiology records of 22 patients, who had presented at the L V Prasad Eye Institute, Bhubaneswar, between June 2009 and December 2012, and whose corneal scrapings had yielded significant growth of <i>Corynebacterium</i> spp, were retrospectively reviewed. A detailed ocular examination was performed before the respective corneal scraping was sent for a microbiological work-up. The data collected from each record included age, gender, predisposing factors (ocular and systemic), clinical presentation, management and outcome of treatment. The mean age of the patients was 43.8±24.4 years. Ocular predisposing factor was present in 14 (63.6%) eyes. Surgical intervention was required in 12 (54.5%) patients. In vitro susceptibility (Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method) results of <i>Corynebacterium</i> spp to vancomycin (17/19, 89.5%), cefazolin (16/20, 80%), chloramphenicol (11/20, 55%), ofloxacin (13/19, 68.4%), ciprofloxacin (10/20, 50%) and gatifloxacin (10/19, 52.6%) were variable. Drug resistance (more than one drug) was seen in nine (40.9%) <i>Corynebacterium</i> isolates, of which, two (22.2%) showed multidrug resistance to three or more classes of antibiotics. Corynebacteria can cause severe corneal infection requiring surgical intervention.