Clinical Ophthalmology (Feb 2023)
Microbiological Profile of Infectious Keratitis During Covid-19 Pandemic
Abstract
Mário Lima-Fontes,1,2 Daniel Martinho-Dias,3– 5 Mariana Leuzinger-Dias,1 Ana Maria Cunha,1 Pedro Neves Cardoso,1 Luís Torrão,1 Raúl Moreira,1 Fernando Falcão-Reis,1,6 João Pinheiro-Costa1,6 1Department of Ophthalmology, Centro Hospitalar Universitário São João, Porto, 4200-319, Portugal; 2Department of Biomedicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, Porto, 4050-313, Portugal; 3Department of Community Medicine, Information and Decision in Health, University of Porto Faculty of Medicine, Porto, 4050-313, Portugal; 4CINTESIS – Center for Health Technology and Services Research, University of Porto, Porto, 4050-313, Portugal; 5Family Health Unit Ao encontro da Saúde, ACES Santo Tirso-Trofa, Trofa, 4745-559, Portugal; 6Department of Surgery and Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, Porto, 4050-313, PortugalCorrespondence: Mário Lima-Fontes, Department of Ophthalmology, Centro Hospitalar Universitário São João, Alameda Prof. Hernâni Monteiro, Porto, 4200-319, Portugal, Email [email protected]: The Covid-19 pandemic introduced significant changes in our daily life, including the widespread use of face masks. The purpose of this study was to assess if significant changes occurred in the microbiological profile of infectious keratitis.Patients and Methods: A retrospective study was performed, based on a survey review of the electronic medical records of all patients with presumed infectious keratitis, between March 2020 and October 2021. The microbiological isolates in this sample (pandemic group) were compared with those obtained in our center between 2009 and 2018 (pre-pandemic group).Results: A total of 194 samples were included in the pandemic group. We obtained a culture-positivity rate of 43.3%, which was significantly higher when compared with the pre-pandemic data (35.15%, p = 0.033). Several further significant differences were found between the pandemic and the pre-pandemic groups: the proportion of bacteria, including gram-positive and gram-negative groups, was higher in our sample (pre-pandemic vs pandemic: 76.78% vs 83.33%, p = 0.010; 53.35% vs 60.71%, p = 0.016; 23.43% vs 34.52%, p = 0.005, respectively); two populations of Gram-positive bacteria found in this study were not isolated in the pre-pandemic sample – Dolosigranulum pigrum and Propionibacterium spp.; and two bacterial isolates were significantly increased in our sample – Corynebacterium spp. (18.41% vs 29.76%, p = 0.003) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (9.00% vs 16.66%, p = 0.012).Conclusion: In conclusion, significant changes were found in the microbiological profile of infectious keratitis in our center during the Covid-19 pandemic. While these changes could be related to face mask use, more observational and experimental studies are needed to explore this possible association.Keywords: infectious keratitis, Covid-19, face mask, microbiology
