CHANGING PATTERNS OF MICROBIAL-CONTAMINATION AND ANTIMICROBIAL SENSITIVITY IN DONOR EYES

Contaminating microbial flora and their in vitro antibiotic sensitivit y pattern was determined for 1557 eyes from donor cadavers collected d uring five years. Positive cultures were obtained in 42.77% of the eye s; bacterial growth was observed in 39.17% of the eyes and fungal grow th, in 3.6%. There was significant variation in the rate of contaminat ion from year to year during the study period Staphylococcus albus was the most frequently isolated organism (28.10%), followed by Acinetoba cter spp., Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Alcaligeness faecalis, respecti vely. Most of the organisms were resistant to commonly used antibiotic s with a low weighted index of effectiveness, particularly toward gent amicin (resistance, 50.82%). The findings were compared with previous data from the same eye bank, and the variations are discussed.