The Status of Infectious Keratitis in Gwang-ju, Jeonnam, Republic of Korea

ABSTRACT

Purpose@#To investigate the clinical characteristics of infectious keratitis in Gwang-ju, Jeonnam Province, Korea. @*Methods@#We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 260 eyes of 260 patients diagnosed with infectious keratitis at the Chosun University Hospital from January 2015 to February 2020. @*Results@#The mean age of disease onset was 58.9 years; 132 (50.8%) of all patients were male and 128 (49.2%) female. The culture positivity rate was 24.6%. Gram-negative bacteria were cultured from 38 eyes (59%), Gram-positive bacteria from 21 (33%), and fungi from five (8%). The most commonly isolated microorganism was Stenotrophomonas (xanthomonas) maltophilia (a Gram-negative rod; 17 cases [26.6%]). Prior use of topical antibiotics was significantly more prevalent in the culture-negative than -positive group. In the latter group, the initial visual acuity was poor (p = 0.015) and the frequency of epithelial defects ≥5 mm2 in area was higher than in the culture-negative group (p = 0.001). Trauma caused by vegetable matter (44 eyes, 16.9%) was the most common predisposing factor. The risk factors for a poor visual outcome were such trauma (p = 0.013), previous ocular surgery (p = 0.006), an epithelial defect area greater than 5 mm2 (p < 0.001), and a follow-up period <10 months (p = 0.005). @*Conclusions@#The Gwangju Jeollanam-do community is more rural than urban, contains a large older population, and features few hospitals. Staphylococcus epidermidis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa are considered to be the most frequent causes of infectious keratitis in Korea. However, in our study Stenotrophomonas maltophilia was the organism most frequently cultured.