ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT A 33-year-old male presented with unilateral subacute infectious keratitis 4 weeks after surgery. Corneal inflammation was resistant to standard topical antibiotic regimens. During diagnostic flap lifting and sampling, the corneal flap melted and separated. Through flap lifting, corneal scraping, microbiological diagnosis of atypical mycobacteria, and treatment with topical fortified amikacin, clarithromycin, and systemic clarithromycin, clinical improvement was achieved.
RESUMO Paciente do sexo masculino, 33 anos, apresentou ceratite infecciosa subaguda unilateral 4 semanas após a cirurgia. A inflamação da córnea foi resistente aos regimes de antibióticos tópicos padrão. A aba da córnea foi derretida e seccionada durante o levantamento e amostragem para diagnóstico. A melhora clínica só foi alcançada após levantamento do retalho, raspagem e diagnóstico microbiológico de micobactérias atípicas e tratamento com amicacina fortificada tópica, claritromicina e claritromicina sistêmica.
ABSTRACT
Background Fungal keratitis has a high incidence in China and its clinical treatment is very difficult,and its etiology diagnosis and appraisal is the premise to improve the prognosis of disease.With the changes of regional environment and climate in recent years,whether the spectrum of fungal keratitis change in South China is remarkable.Objective The purpose of this study was to investigate recent pathogenic distribution of fungal keratitis in South China area.Methods The consecutive fungal culture resuhs of 3 350 purulent keratitis at Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center from January 2009 to December 2014 were retrospectively reviewed.The positive rate of fungal culture,genus or species distribution,seasonal distribution and different term distribution were analyzed.Results The culture-positive rate was 31.34％ in this study (1 050/3 350),and the average culture-positive number was 175 strains per year.In the positive fungus,the highest positive rate was Fusarium SP (32.10％,337/1 050),and followed by Aspergillus SP (25.71％,270/1 050),Heminthosporium SP (14.29 ％,150/1 050) and Mucor SP (9.14％,96/1 050).The fungal culture-positive rate was 36.05％ (367/1 018) in 2009 to 2010,32.45％ (324/1 014) in 2011 to 2012,and 26.86％ (354/1 318) in 2013 to 2014,respectively,with a significant difference among the three periods (x2 =22.37,P＜0.01),showing a decreasing tendency of incidence.Two hundreds and sixtyone strains were isolated from January to March (31.15 ％,261/838),182 strains from April to June (25.53 ％,182/713),237 strains from July to September (30.00％,237/790),370 strains from October to December (36.67％,370/1 009),showing a statistically significant difference among them (x2 =25.19,P ＜ 0.01).The number of infectious strains was most during October to December and fewest during April to June.Conclusions The leading pathogenic fungi of fungal keratitis is Fusarium SP and followed by Aspergillus SP,Helminthosporium SP,Mucor SP in turn.Fungal keratitis is usually prevalent from October to December,and its incidence is still rising in Chinese mainland recently.However,the increasing tendency in South China has been prevented in recent six years.
ABSTRACT
RESUMO Os autores relatam dois casos de ceratite fúngica, que apresentam em comum no exame histopatológico: a ausência de epitélio, sem ulceração e a integridade da camada de Bowman com a presença de formas fúngicas no seu interior. São sugeridos prováveis mecanismos de recidiva das ceratites fúngicas, ressaltando uma possível "via externa não usual", por meio da penetração do fungo através da camada de Bowman íntegra. A existência desta infecção oportunista não está relatada na literatura oftalmológica e são necessárias mais evidências para que seja considerada como tal.
ABSTRACT The authors describe two cases of fungal keratitis which, upon histopathological examination, are found to have in common the absence of epithelium, without ulceration and the lack of integrity of the Bowman's layer with the presence of fungal forms in their interior. Through them the authors suggest probable mechanisms of recurrence of fungal keratitis, highlighting the possible existence of an "unusual external route" that would occur by the fungus penetration through the full Bowman layer. Although these findings appear not yet reported or recovered in the ophthalmic literature, the authors suggest that they could be possible opportunistic infection signals which, however, require more evidence to be considered as such.