Original ArticleSpectrum of Fungal Keratitis in North China
Section snippets
Patients and Methods
In this hospital-based retrospective study, we reviewed the medical history data of 1056 patients (1056 eyes) with infective corneal ulcers (excluding 461 inpatients with viral keratitis during the corresponding period) hospitalized at the Shandong Eye Institute from January 1999 to December 2004. As one of the largest tertiary referral eye centers in north China, this institution caters to a great proportion of patients with eye diseases in Shandong Province and neighboring provinces.
Detailed
Epidemiologic Features
Of the 1056 eyes with infective corneal ulcers, 654 (61.9%) were diagnosed as fungal keratitis, 129 (12.2%) as bacterial keratitis, and 15 (1.4%) as Acanthamoeba keratitis, whereas no pathogens could be isolated in the other 258 eyes (24.5%).
Of the 654 patients with fungal keratitis, 396 (60.6%) were male, and 258 (39.4%) were female. The male-to-female ratio was 1.5:1. The age of patients ranged from 7 to 80 years (mean, 44.9±12.5). Patients ages 41 to 50 were most frequent (203 [31.0%]),
Discussion
Due to high incidence and poor responses to antifungal agents, fungal keratitis has become an important cause of visual loss in many developing countries, where a large number of the population are farm workers. Moreover, the climate is mild and humid, and malnutrition is common. All these factors predispose people to the development of fungal keratitis from minor eye trauma. Fungi reside as commensals in flora of the conjunctival sac in 3% to 28% of healthy eyes12, 13, 14 and may invade the
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Manuscript no. 2005-471.
Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Beijing, China (grant no.: 30271394); Department of Science and Technology of Shandong Province, Jinan, China (grant nos.: 2004GG2202154, 021100105); and Qingdao Municipal Science and Technology Bureau, Qingdao, China (grant no.: 02KGYSH-01).