A case report of Mycobacterium chelonae keratitis and a review of mycobacterial infections of the eye and orbit.
Mycobacteria are unusual causes of keratitis and other ocular infections but the outcome of infection is often serious. We report a case of keratitis due to Mycobacterium chelonae, a rapidly growing environmental mycobacterium, in a soft contact-lens wearer, and discuss the difficulty and delay in identifying the organism, twice erroneously identified as Nocardia asteroides on morphological grounds. Despite in vitro susceptibility, the response to anti-bacterial agents was negligible and a second keratoplasty was required after a recurrence of disease at the donor-host junction. We review the role of mycobacteria as the cause of keratitis and other forms of ocular disease.
Khooshabeh
R
R
Department of Ophthalmology, Hillingdon Hospital, London, UK.
Grange
J M
JM
Yates
M D
MD
McCartney
A C
AC
Casey
T A
TA
D000328:Adult; D003262:Contact Lenses, Extended-Wear / Q000009:adverse effects; D003315:Cornea / Q000382:microbiology; D015818:Eye Infections, Bacterial / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007634:Keratitis / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000628:therapy; D009165:Mycobacterium Infections, Nontuberculous / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy; D016926:Mycobacterium chelonae / Q000302:isolation & purification; D009916:Orbital Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*