MICROBIAL PROFILE AND ETIOLOGICAL DIAGNOSIS OF KERATITIS IN A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL: CROSS SECTIONAL STUDY.

Background: Blindness is a major public health problem worldwide, and infectious keratitis is one of the predominant causes. Ulcerative keratitis due to infection with a wide range of organisms such as viruses, bacteria, fungi or protozoa has been reported. Bacterial and mycological keratitis typically occurs in persons having some associated factors. Materials & Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted at the Vedantaa Institute of Medical Sciences, Palghar between February 2021 to April 2021 were involving 72 eyes of 72 patients with corneal ulcer were studied during the study period. Swabs and scrapping from the corneal ulcer were collected aseptically. Staining and culture were performed as per standard guidelines. Bacterial and fungal species were isolated as per standard microbiological guidelines and data were analysed. Results: Male to female ratio of study cases was 1.57:1. The main occupations of study cases were farming (30 i.e. 41.7%) and construction work (13 i.e.18.1%). Out of 72 samples, in 29 (40.3%) samples fungal species were isolated and in 43 (59.7%) samples bacteria were isolated. Among 29 fungus isolates, 16 (22.2%) were A. flavus and 11 (15.3%) were A. niger. Among 43 bacterial isolates 13 (18.1%) were Pseudomonas species, 18 (25.0%) were Staphylococcus aureus and 11 (15.3%) were Coagulase negative staphylococci. Conclusion: Infective corneal ulcers mainly affected working males involved in farming. Gram stain and KOH mount analysis showed fungal etiology more frequently than bacterial. Keywords: Infective Keratitis, Etiology, Microbial, Fungal, Bacteria.