Comparison of clinico-microbiological profile and treatment outcome of in-house and referred post cataract surgery endophthalmitis in a tertiary care center in South India

Effect of Age on the Etiology and Antibiotic Susceptibility Pattern of Infectious Endophthalmitis

PURPOSE

To review the etiology and antibiotic susceptibility patterns of infectious endophthalmitis over 11 years in different age groups.

METHODS

Microbiology records of culture-positive endophthalmitis cases from January 2011 and December 2021 were reviewed for the age groups 0-30, 31-60, and >60 years. Additionally, data was also analysed for trends in antibiotic susceptibility between different age groups.

RESULTS

A total of 5590 patients were clinically diagnosed with endophthalmitis. Of these, 1316 (23.5%) patients were culture positive comprising of 1097 bacteria (83.3%) and 219 fungal (16.6%). Gram-positive bacteria predominated the culture-proven bacterial endophthalmitis group with 709 cases (62.6%). Streptococcus pneumoniae (9.3%) was the most prevalent organism in the age group between 0 and 30 years, while Staphylococcus epidermidis (6%) was the most prevalent organism in the age group of 31-60 years. In comparison, Pseudomonas aeruginosa (4.1%) was the most abundant organism in the age group >60 years. Interestingly, Aspergillus flavus (13.24%) was the predominant fungal pathogen in all age groups. There was an increasing trend in antibiotic resistance from younger to older age groups and this pattern was observed for almost all drugs tested except vancomycin and amikacin.

CONCLUSION

While infection can occur at any age, the etiology also seems to vary. This study helps us understand the demography of endophthalmitis along with choice of empirical antibiotics that would influence treatment outcomes. Although vancomycin currently holds good for the treatment for gram-positive infections, gram-negative infections calls for an immediate need for newer drugs or advanced treatment options.

A Rare Case of Endophthalmitis with Rhizobium radiobacter, Soon after a Resolved Keratitis: Case Report

Background: Rhizobium (Agrobacterium) species are plant aerobic bacteria, which in some cases can produce endophthalmitis in humans after corneal trauma. Case presentation: A 42-year-old female patient presented in the Emergency Department of the Emergency County Hospital of Craiova, Romania, reporting pain, epiphora, and blurry vision in her right eye for about five days. This initial infectious keratitis episode was successfully resolved, but after 20 days she presented again after trauma with a leaf with corneal abscess. In the conjunctival secretion, R. radiobacter was identified. Despite antibiotherapy, the patient’s state did not improve, and ultimately the eye was eviscerated. Methods: A search was performed in the ProQuest, PubMed, and ScienceDirect databases for the terms Agrobacterium, Rhizobium, radiobacter, and eye. We eliminated non-human studies, editorials and commentaries, and non-relevant content, and excluded the duplicates. Results: In total, 138 studies were initially obtained, and then we selected 26 studies for retrieval. After the selection process, we ended up including 17 studies in our analysis. Most studies reported R. radiobacter endophthalmitis after ocular surgical procedures or outdoor activities that involve exposure to soil. Conclusion: R. radiobacter is a rare cause of endophthalmitis after eye trauma that generally responds well to usual antibiotherapy, but occasionally can evolve to severe, leading to the loss of the eye.

Endophthalmitis management study. Report #1. Protocol

To date, the Endophthalmitis Vitrectomy Study (EVS) has remained the hallmark of evidence-based management of acute bacterial endophthalmitis after cataract surgery with an intraocular lens. In the last quarter-century since its publication, several studies have reported that the microbiological spectrum of endophthalmitis is not the same across the world; there is emerging antibiotic resistance of gram-negative microorganisms to the EVS recommended antibiotics; there are newer molecules that could cross the blood-retinal barrier; the advances in vitreous surgery have become safer than before, and there are newer methods of microbiological evaluation. One of the often-mentioned drawbacks of the EVS was not recruiting grossly infected eyes with poor visibility of the iris and vitreous. Keeping these factors in mind, a new prospective multi-centered randomized study, the Endophthalmitis Management Study (EMS), is designed. The EMS will recruit all post-cataract surgery endophthalmitis patients irrespective of severity (including suspected fungal infection); the EMS will use quantifiable inflammatory score instead of the presenting vision to allocate for surgery, randomize the eyes to two different combinations of intravitreal antibiotics and use the newer microbiological diagnostic techniques. We believe the EMS findings will complement the EVS recommendations.

Endophthalmitis prophylaxis study. Report 1: Intracameral cefuroxime and moxifloxacin prophylaxis for the prevention of postcataract endophthalmitis in rural India

Purpose:

Intracameral antibiotics are known to reduce the incidence of acute endophthalmitis. Various drugs are available for intracameral use. This prospective study was carried out to compare the efficacies of intracameral cefuroxime and moxifloxacin prophylaxis in reducing the incidence of acute endophthalmitis after cataract surgery in rural India.

Methods:

This was a prospective, nonrandomized, comparative, interventional study. Between October 2016 and March 2018, 15 eye care facilities spread over four Indian states were preselected to use either of the intracameral antibiotics, cefuroxime or moxifloxacin, following cataract surgery (phacoemulsification or manual small incision cataract surgery, SICS). The main outcome measure was the occurrence of acute clinical endophthalmitis within six weeks of the surgery. This was compared with the earlier rate of endophthalmitis in the same locations.

Results:

The study was done in 42,466 eyes. Of the total, 42.2% received intracameral cefuroxime and 57.8% received intracameral moxifloxacin. SICS was performed more often. Clinical acute endophthalmitis occurred in 15 eyes. This accounted to a 72.22% reduction, from the earlier 0.126% to 0.035%, of postcataract surgery acute endophthalmitis. The reduction in the incidence of endophthalmitis after intracameral cefuroxime was 0.017% and that after intracameral moxifloxacin was 0.049%. With either intracameral antibiotics, the reduction in incidence was statistically significant (P < 0.001), but not between the molecules. Intracameral cefuroxime showed 66.67% reduction and intracameral moxifloxacin showed 74.74% reduction.

Conclusion:

A 3.6-fold decrease in postcataract surgery endophthalmitis was observed upon the use of intracameral antibiotics in rural India. Both intracameral cefuroxime and moxifloxacin proved efficacious.

Utility of broad-range 16S rRNA PCR assay versus conventional methods for laboratory diagnosis of bacterial endophthalmitis in a tertiary care hospital

Background

Endophthalmitis, a sight-threatening intraocular infection, can be of postsurgical, post-traumatic or endogenous origin. Laboratory diagnosis-based appropriate therapy can be vision-saving. Conventional culture-based laboratory diagnosis takes time and lacks sensitivity. In this study a broad-range PCR assay was assessed against conventional and automated culture methods in vitreous specimens for accurate microbiological diagnosis.

Aims

To use broad-range PCR assay targeting 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) region of bacteria and to assess its performance vis-à-vis conventional and automated culture methods in the laboratory diagnosis of endophthalmitis.

Methods

Vitreous specimens from 195 patients with clinically diagnosed endophthalmitis were processed for classical and automated culture methods, antimicrobial sensitivity and broad-range PCR assay targeting 762 bp region of 16S rRNA followed by nucleotide sequencing by Sanger’s method. Causative agents were identified from the nucleotide sequences analysed against the GenBank database, and organisms were identified using the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) MM18A guidelines.

Results

Bacteria could be detected from 127 (65.13%) of the 195 vitreous specimens by broad-range PCR assay; bacterial isolation was possible from 17 (8.7%) and 60 (30.76%) of these specimens by conventional and automated culture methods, respectively (p<0.0001). PCR assay could detect two uncultured bacterium, and in five cases the bacterial identity could not be determined from NCBI database matching.

Conclusion

Broad-range PCR assay could provide definitive microbial diagnosis within 24 hours in significantly more patients (p<0.0001). Some rare organisms could be detected, useful in treatment modalities. Automated culture was significantly more sensitive than conventional culture.