Current Trend of Corneal Ulcer In Patients Attending a Tertiary Healthcare Centre

Purpose To study the epidemiological characteristics and etiology of corneal ulcer at a tertiary healthcare centre of upper Assam. Materials and Methods The present prospective hospital based study was carried out on 60 consecutive corneal ulcer cases attending outpatient and admitted in in-patient department of ophthalmology, Assam Medical College. After clinical and slit-lamp bio-microscopic examination, corneal scrapings were collected from all the corneal ulcer cases and subjected to microscopy and culture. Results Out of 60 consecutive patients having keratitis, 37 (61.66 %) were found to be culture positive. Rate of detection of bacterial, fungal and mixed growth were respectively 32.43 %, 59.48 % and 5.40 %. Patients from rural background constitute 71.6 % (43). Ocular trauma 51 (85 %) was the most common predisposing factor followed by acute and chronic dacryocystitis 4 (6.66 %) and diabetes- mellitus 3 (5 %). Bamboo stick injuries accounted for 19 (37.25 %) cases followed by injuries by paddy leaves 10 (19.6 %) and tea leaves 8 (15.6 %). Out of 12 bacterial isolates, Streptococcus pneumonia 4 (33.3 %) was predominant followed by Staphylococcus Aureus 3 (25 %). Out of the fungal isolates, 9 (40.9 %) were Fusarium species followed by 6 (27.27 %) Aspergillus species. Conclusions Fungi are the major cause of corneal ulcer in the rural population of Assam with ocular trauma being the major risk factor.