Estudio retrospectivo de queratitis infecciosas durante la pandemia del coronavirus

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the clinical and microbiologic characteristics of infectious keratitis seen during the year of the coronavirus pandemic.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective study of a series of cases of patients with infectious keratitis seen in a public ophthalmologic hospital in the city of Buenos Aires between March 2020 and March 2021. Demographic aspects, risk factors, clinical characteristics, treatment, and evolution were evaluated.

Results: A total of 172 patients were included, of which 89 were grade II and 78 were grade III abscesses, and the remaining 5 were grade I abscesses. Hypopyon was present in 98 cases. The time elapsed between the onset of symptoms and the first consultation was 9.1 days, during which 101 cases had used prophylactic topical antimicrobials empirically. Positive laboratory diagnosis was also achieved in 111 cases, where the most frequent pathogen was Pseudomonas aeruginosa followed by Staphylococcus aureus. Forty-seven (27.3%) conjunctival coverings were performed (7 with scleral patch) and 9 of the 172 cases (5.2%) required evisceration. Resolved with a structural sequela (leukoma/pannus) 112 (65.1%) and only 3 eyes of the total (1.7%) achieved recovery without sequelae.

Conclusion: Most of the corneal infections were severe cases, which ended with structural and functional sequelae. A 65% positivity rate was found in the laboratory samples, with Pseudomonas aeruginosa being the most frequent followed by Staphylococcus aureus. Future studies will allow us to compare these data to understand if the pandemic had any influence.