title: Comparison of techniques for culturing corneal ulcers.
abstract: All consecutive cases of presumed microbial keratitis were cultured with both a platinum spatula and calcium alginate swab moistened with trypticase soy broth. Ten (77%) of the 13 culture-proven ulcers in this series showed a greater number of colonies and more confluent growth on the agar plates inoculated with a moistened swab compared with a much lower yield obtained using a platinum spatula. All culture-positive bacterial ulcers showed growth when cultured with a swab. Two ulcers that were partially treated before culturing yielded very light growth from those rows inoculated with a swab and no growth from those rows inoculated with a spatula. Two ulcers showed equal growth between the two methods. One ulcer (Actinomycetes-Streptomyces/Nocardia) had greater growth obtained with a spatula compared with a swab. This series demonstrated a significantly greater retrieval of organisms from bacterial keratitis when a calcium alginate swab moistened with trypticase soy broth was used to rub the ulcer and directly inoculate the solid agar media. The single case of filamentous bacteria suggests that a spatula may yield better organism retrieval from ulcers caused by filamentous organisms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, University of Texas Medical School, Houston.
authors.forename: W H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Benson
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Lanier
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000254:growth & development / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D001431:Bacteriological Techniques; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D003320:Corneal Ulcer / Q000382:microbiology*; D003470:Culture Media; D015818:Eye Infections, Bacterial / Q000382:microbiology*; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media