Infectious disease risk factors of corneal graft donors.

OBJECTIVE: To determine how donor health status affects the risk of infection after corneal transplant. METHODS: An adverse reaction surveillance registry was used to conduct a matched case-control study among transplanted donor corneas from January 1, 1994, to December 31, 2003. Cases comprised 162 reports of endophthalmitis after penetrating keratoplasty including 121 with microbial recovery, of which 59 had concordant donor and recipient microbial isolates. Two controls were matched to each case by surgery date. Conditional logistic regression estimated adjusted odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals according to the premortem status of decedent donors. RESULTS: Postkeratoplasty endophthalmitis was associated with recent hospitalization (odds ratio, 2.84; 95% confidence interval, 1.61-4.98) and fatal cancer (odds ratio, 2.46; 95% confidence interval, 1.53-3.97) among donors. Endophthalmitis appeared more likely with tissues transplanted longer than 5 days after donation (odds ratio, 1.55; 95% confidence interval, 1.02-2.35). The prevalence of concordant microbial isolates from donors and recipients was greater among fungal endophthalmitis than among bacterial endophthalmitis (P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: Corneal grafts with eye tissue obtained from donors dying in the hospital or with cancer may have an increased risk of postsurgical endophthalmitis, possibly due to donor-to-host microbial transmission. Together with donor screening and processing, improvements in microbiological control may reduce infection associated with corneal transplant.

The incidence of fungal keratitis and endophthalmitis following penetrating keratoplasty.

PURPOSE: To determine the incidence of postkeratoplasty fungal endophthalmitis and keratitis at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary. To determine whether there is a relationship between culture-positive corneoscleral donor material and postoperative infection. METHODS: The microbiologic records of corneoscleral donor rims submitted for culture following penetrating keratoplasty at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary between January 1998 and January 2003 were reviewed. The incidence of rim cultures positive for fungi was tabulated. Clinical outcome measures were recorded for each patient receiving corneal donor tissue. RESULTS: Of 2466 donor corneoscleral rims cultured during the study period, 344 were positive for microbial growth (13%). Of those rims with positive cultures, 28 (8.6%) were positive for fungus. All fungi cultured were Candida species. Four of the 28 recipient eyes (14%) who received contaminated donor material went on to develop postkeratoplasty fungal infections. There were no cases of fungal infection in any postkeratoplasty patients in the absence of contaminated donor rims during the study period. Overall, there was a 0.16% incidence of fungal infection (4/2466) following penetrating keratoplasty. There were 18 positive donor rims identified in the first 4 years of the study, but there were 10 cases in the last 10 months of the study. CONCLUSIONS: The overall incidence of fungal infection following penetrating keratoplasty is low, but all cases in our study were associated with positive rim cultures. Whether prophylactic antifungal therapy would be of any benefit in the presence of a positive corneoscleral rim culture has not yet been determined.

[Nosocomial pseudomonas aeruginosa-associated keratitis in soft contact lens wearer]. / Nosokomiale Pseudomonas-aeruginosa-assoziierte Keratitis nach Tragen weicher Kontaktlinsen.

BACKGROUND: Pseudomonas aeruginosa is the most common cause of bacterial-associated keratitis in soft contact lens wearers, due to wrong use of soft contact lenses. Problems are often severe corneal ulcers and even corneal perforations. We report on a soft contact lens wearer with credibly correct use of soft contact lenses and nosocomial Pseudomonas aeruginosa-associated keratitis. CASE REPORT: A 33-year old woman suffered from corneal ulcer and corneal infiltration with beginning endophthalmitis 2 days after having used of new soft contact lenses. After systemic and local antibiosis and penetrating keratoplasty we could stop endophthalmitis before reaching the vitreous and retina. RESULTS: Histological and microbiological examinations showed a corneal ulcer with severe corneal infection due to Pseudomonas aeruginosa with resistance to mezlocillin and intermediale resistance to gentamicin. After therapy a stable situation with visual acuity of 20/60 was attained. CONCLUSIONS: Previous reports on Pseudomonas aeruginosa-associated keratitis in soft contact lens wearers demonstrate corneal problems due to extended or overnight wear or unsuccessful contact lens cleaning. We present a case of nosocomial corneal infection after soft contact lens wearing and nosocomial infection because of contact with a partner working in an intensive-care unit. Hygienic rules should be strictly followed by patients and staff using soft or hard contact lenses for visual correction or for therapeutic reasons.

[Perioperative risk of infection in cataract surgery]. / Perioperative Infektionsgefahr in der Kataraktchirurgie.

The presence of bacteria during cataract surgery was studied on 71 consecutive patients. Lid and conjunctival smears were cultured 24 hours preoperatively. Additional conjunctival smears were harvested in the operating room before and after conjunctival disinfection by oxycyanate. Moreover, the whole irrigation fluid was collected under sterile condition and examined microbiologically. 24 hours preoperatively 61 of 71 patients had positive cultures of their lids and/or conjunctivae. 8 of them showed growth of pathogenous bacteria (7 staphylococcus aureus, 1 proteus mirabilis). In the operating room before oxycyanate disinfection 5 patients were positive for staphylococcus aureus and 13 for coagulase negative staphylococci (none for proteus species). After oxycyanate disinfection 4 residual conjunctival smears showed bacterial growth when cultured (3 coagulase negative staphylococci, 1 proteus mirabilis). 22 of 71 collected irrigation fluids content few numbers of bacteria. One was positive for proteus mirabilis, 3 for staphylococci. The patient showing growth of proteus after oxycyanate disinfection and one of the patients with staphylococcus aureus positive irrigation fluid did not show this kind of micro-organism in any smear before. The authors conclude that preoperative cultures do not give real security about the presence or absence of bacteria during the operation.

Pneumococcal endophthalmitis after corneal transplantation: control by modification of harvesting techniques.

Between January and September 1986, 61 patients underwent corneal transplantation at a university hospital, and three (4.9%) of the patients developed endophthalmitis. Cultures of the donor cornea were positive for Streptococcus pneumoniae. The transplant program was stopped and an investigation begun. Review of corneal transplants in 1985 showed that S pneumoniae was recovered from only 1 (1.5%) of 66 donor corneas compared with 6 (9.8%) of 61 in 1986 (P = 0.045; Fisher's exact test). Investigation showed that major changes had occurred in the corneal transplant program in 1986 as a result of a new state law. Coroner's cases had become the source of most corneas; younger donors were available, and corneas, instead of whole eyes, were collected in the coroner's office, often by part-time technicians. All of the infected corneas had been harvested by part-time technicians, instead of the regular eye bank technician, and came from younger donors (mean age 11.8 years v 27.2; P less than or equal to 0.02). Based on these observations, collection techniques were modified to reduce contamination of corneas during harvesting. This included the use of surgical drapes and gloves, collecting the cornea without interruption, saline irrigation of the eye, and inversion of the eye chamber to ensure complete contact of the cornea with the antibiotic-containing media. The program was restarted, and there were no corneal infections with S pneumoniae during a one-year follow-up period.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Donor-to-host transmission of streptococcal infection by corneas stored in McCarey-Kaufman medium.

Two patients developed streptococcal endophthalmitis following penetrating keratoplasty. These cases may represent the third and fourth cases of donor-to-host transmission of streptococcal infection by corneas stored in McCarey-Kaufman (M-K) medium. Streptococcal agents now account for 50-59% of the total number of reported cases of M-K medium contamination by donor tissue with resultant infection in the host. Gentamicin sulfate, the sole antibiotic used in the M-K medium in all cases, has poor activity against most streptococci. The addition of a second antibiotic to the M-K medium to provide an improved spectrum of antimicrobial activity should be considered.

Transfer of bacterial infections by donor cornea in penetrating keratoplasty.

A 45-year-old man died of Hogdkin's disease complicated by peritonitis and possible septicemia. His corneas were used for transplant in a 26-year-old man with advanced keratoconus and a 42-year-old man with vascularized central leukoma of old herpetic keratitis. Both recipients developed a fulminating endophthalmitis with Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We believe that the donor corneas, although clinically normal, were heavily infected, with signs of inflammation possibly suppressed by the Hodgkin's disease.