title: A 3½-Year Study of Bacterial Keratitis From Odisha, India.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To report the clinical and microbiological characteristics and treatment outcome of bacterial keratitis at a tertiary eye care center in eastern India.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective analysis of medical and microbiology records.
  
  
  METHODS
  All patients had undergone complete clinical and microbiological evaluation for microbial keratitis. Patients with laboratory-proven bacterial keratitis were included in the study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Between July 2006 and December 2010, 1417 microbial keratitis was clinically diagnosed in the patients. Whereas no organisms were found in 27.8% (394/1417) of cases, 21.4% (303/1417) were bacterial. From 303 patients, 347 bacterial isolates were cultured, 260 (74.9%) of which were gram-positive, 67 were gram-negative, and 20 were acid-fast. Streptococcus pneumoniae was the predominant isolate (86/347 [24.7%]), followed by Staphylococcus species [64/347 (18.4%)]. Pseudomonas aeruginosa (29/347 [8.3%]) was the most common gram-negative bacterial isolate. High level of susceptibility to cefazolin (96.2%) and vancomycin (96.5%) was found in gram-positive cocci, whereas susceptibility of Pseudomonas species to gatifloxacin was 95.1%. Fifty-three patients (17.5%) required tissue adhesive, and 47 (15.5%) needed penetrating keratoplasty. Healed corneal scar was achieved in 188 patients (62%), whereas 34 (11.2%) were lost to follow-up. Large stromal infiltrate size, older age group, and poor presenting visual acuity were significant factors that adversely affected final outcome (P < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Proportion of bacterial keratitis was low compared with other studies from India. Gram-positive bacteria were a common cause of bacterial keratitis with high susceptibility to cefazolin and vancomycin. Gram-negative bacteria were sensitive to gatifloxacin with overall good treatment outcome.
authors.affiliation: From the *LV Prasad Eye Institute, Bhubaneswar, Odisha; and †Centre for Clinical Epidemiology and Bio-statistics (CCEB), LV Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Bibhudutta
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rautaraya
authors.forename: Savitri
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.forename: Md Hasnat
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Ali
authors.forename: Sarita
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kar
authors.forename: Sujata
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Das
authors.forename: Srikant K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Sahu