Trends in the Microbiological Spectrum of Nonviral Keratitis at a Single Tertiary Care Ophthalmic Hospital in India: A Review of 30 years

Purpose:The aims of this study were to assess the trends in microorganisms from patients with infectious keratitis and to assess their antibiogram patterns at a tertiary eye care center in India.Methods:In this retrospective observational case series, microbiological records of all corneal ulcers were reviewed from 1991 to 2020 and assessed for trends in keratitis and antibiotic susceptibility using the chi(2) test.Results:Of the total of 51,747 patients, 51.13% were culture positive. A decrease in bacteria was noted from 56% to 38%, with a parallel increase in fungal isolates from 24% to 51%. Gram-positive bacteria accounted for 70.8% of the total bacteria, a trend in rise of Streptococcus pneumoniae (31%) and a decreasing trend in prevalence of Staphylococcus epidermidis was observed over 30 years. Pseudomonas aeruginosa (55.5%) was the most prevalent gram-negative pathogen, whereas Fusarium spp. (33.1%) and Aspergillus spp. (32.4%) were the most common fungal isolates. The susceptibility of gram-positive organisms to cefazolin decreased from 95.5% to 66% (P = 0.0001), amikacin from 88% to 55% (P= 0.0001), and vancomycin from 98.9% to 90.7% (P < 0.05). A similar decrease in susceptibility was also significant for gram-negative organisms with piperacillin/tazobactam and chloramphenicol (P < 0.05). A significant trend toward increasing resistance against fluoroquinolones was also observed for ciprofloxacin (gram-positive organisms: 16% to 50%; gram-negative organisms: 11.5% to 18.7%), gatifloxacin (38% to 47%), and moxifloxacin (9.4% to 29%).Conclusions:The spectrum of keratitis has changed, and fungus is now the predominant etiology. An increasing trend in resistance to all antibiotics studied would affect the empiric treatment, also suggesting regular surveillance.