Original articleBacteriologic Profile of the Conjunctiva in the Patients with Dry Eye
Section snippets
Patients
Sixty-seven eyes of 67 female patients with dry eye (age range, 26 to 80 years; mean age, 60.3 years) whose dry eye treatments, for example, eye drops and punctual occlusion, had not changed within the previous three months were enrolled from September 1, 2005 through February 25, 2006 at the Department of Ophthalmology of Osaka University Hospital. Of 67 patients, 29 were patients with Sjögren syndrome and 38 were without Sjögren syndrome. Dry eye was diagnosed by both positive tear test
Results
Of the 67 eyes, 63 eyes (94.0%) had positive bacterial growth. A total of 88 bacterial strains were isolated from the 63 eyes. Of the 88 bacterial strains, 48 (54.5%) strains of Propionibacterium acnes, 26 (29.5%) with coagulase-negative Staphylococcus (CNS) species, including 12 methicillin-sensitive (MS) CNS and 14 methicillin-resistant (MR) CNS, six (6.8%) Staphylococcus aureus, including five MS S. aureus and one MR S. aureus, and eight (9.1%) others (three streptococci, two enterococci,
Discussion
In the current study, CNS was the major aerobic conjunctival bacteria isolated from patients with dry eye, and more than half of CNS strains isolated (14/26; 53.8%) were MR, which was similar to data from preoperative conjunctiva samples previously reported.24 Interestingly, we also observed that the dry eye group had a significantly higher incidence of fluoroquinolone-resistant MS CNS and MR CNS strains than control subjects. There were no significant differences in the incidences of these
Yuichi Hori, MD, is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Ophthalmology, Osaka University Medical School, Suita, Osaka, Japan. He received his medical degree from Osaka University Medial School in 1995. Dr Hori completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at The Schepens Eye Research Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, from 2001 to 2004. His major scientific interests include molecular biology of the ocular surface, dry eye, and corneal transplantation.
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Yuichi Hori, MD, is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Ophthalmology, Osaka University Medical School, Suita, Osaka, Japan. He received his medical degree from Osaka University Medial School in 1995. Dr Hori completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at The Schepens Eye Research Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, from 2001 to 2004. His major scientific interests include molecular biology of the ocular surface, dry eye, and corneal transplantation.