Epidemiological study of fungal keratitis in a tertiary hospital from south karnataka

Introduction: Corneal infections of fungal etiology are common in India (19-45%). Aspergillus (16–53%) and Fusarium (10–45%) species are the common pathogens. In agricultural country like India, where primary health care and referral systems are weak, minor eye injuries sustained in agricultural farms lead to corneal ulceration of fungal etiology and loss of vision  Purpose: 1. To Identify and isolate the various fungi causing fungal keratitis.  2. To know the various predisposing factors for developing fungal keratitis. Materials and Methods: Multiple corneal scrapings from suspected cases were collected on a set of SDA, Blood agar plates, for KOH wet mount and Grams stain. Molds were identified on the basis of colony morphology such as growth rate, colony texture, color, pigment, and aerial or vegetative hyphae. Results: Out of 68 study subjects, 18 (26.4%) were culture positive. 45 males and 23 were females. Mean Age was 40. Fusarium sp was predominant (44.4%) followed by Aspergills sp (38.9%). Majority 35 (51.4%) were farmer or from agricultural work, among which males 27(77.1%) were more than females 8(22.9 %). Conclusion: Among vegetative trauma, injury by sugarcane leaf itself contributed for 15(22 %) cases.