|
|
LETTER TO THE EDITOR |
|
Year : 2012 | Volume
: 60
| Issue : 3 | Page : 243-244 |
|
Authors' reply
M Jayahar Bharathi1, R Ramakrishnan2, C Shivakumar3, R Meenakshi4
1 Department of Microbiology and Molecular Biology, Aravind Eye Hospital and Postgraduate Institute of Ophthalmology, Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, India 2 Chief Medical Officer, Aravind Eye Hospital and Postgraduate Institute of Ophthalmology, Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, India 3 Department of General Ophthalmology, Aravind Eye Hospital and Postgraduate Institute of Ophthalmology, Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, India 4 Department of Cornea and Refractive Surgery, Aravind Eye Hospital and Postgraduate Institute of Ophthalmology, Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, India
Date of Web Publication | 8-May-2012 |
Correspondence Address: M Jayahar Bharathi Department of Microbiology and Molecular Biology, Aravind Eye Hospital and Postgraduate Institute of Ophthalmology, Tirunelveli - 627 001, Tamil Nadu India
Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None | Check |
How to cite this article: Bharathi M J, Ramakrishnan R, Shivakumar C, Meenakshi R. Authors' reply. Indian J Ophthalmol 2012;60:243-4 |
Dear Editor,
Thank you very much for your interest and your comments [1] on our article titled "Etiology and antibacterial susceptibility pattern of community-acquired bacterial ocular infections in a tertiary eye care hospital in South India."
This study was a retrospective analysis, [2] which included ocular samples submitted for microbiological evaluation, obtained from clinically diagnosed ocular infections such as blepharitis, conjunctivitis, internal and external hordeolum, suppurative scleritis, canaliculitis, keratitis, dacryocystitis, pre-septal and orbital cellulitis, blebitis, endophthalmitis, and panophthalmitis, between January 2002 and December 2007. Using standard techniques, the specimens were collected and subjected to culture and smear analysis. [3],[4],[5] From the entire range of infections that we have collected samples from, endophthalmitis cases can probably be the ones which could have been infection acquired during medical care and not from the community. Even in our series of endophthalmitis cases, there were no cluster infections, which could be the evidence to hospital-acquired infections. We thank the reader for sensitizing us toward the point.
Regarding the methods of specimen collection in cases of orbital cellulitis, in the presence of open wound or drainage site, materials were obtained by aspiration with a sterile syringe and needle for immediate inoculation onto appropriate culture media. [4],[6],[7]
The article, which was published in Indian Journal of Pathology and Microbiology, [8] contains data of samples submitted to microbiology laboratory for microbiological evaluations between January 2005 and December 2005. During this study period of 1 year, we had not received ocular samples for microbiological evaluation from cases of orbital cellulitis; however, we had samples from three cases of pre-septal cellulitis.
References | | |
1. | Chandravanshi SL. It is really a study of community-acquired bacterial infections? Indian J Ophthalmol 2012;60:157-8. [ PUBMED] |
2. | Bharathi MJ, Ramakrishnan R, Shivakumar C, Meenakshi R, Lionalraj D. Etiology and antibacterial susceptibility pattern of community-acquired bacterial ocular infections in a tertiary eye care hospital in south India. Indian J Ophthalmol 2010;58:497-507. [ PUBMED] |
3. | Byrne KA, Burd E, Tabbara K, Hyndiuk R, editors. Diagnostic Microbiology and Cytology of the Eye. Boston: Butterworth Heinemann; 1995. |
4. | Wilhelmus KR, Liesegang TJ, Osato MS, Jones DB, Specter SC, editors. Cumulative Techniques and Procedures in Clinical Microbiology: Laboratory diagnosis of ocular infections. Washington DC: American Society for Microbiology; 1994. |
5. | Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute. Performance Standards for Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing; seventeenth informational supplement. 19th ed, Vol. 1. Performance Standards for Antimicrobial Disk Susceptibility Tests: CLSI documentM100-S17. M2-A9. Approved Standard; 2007. p. 27. |
6. | Liu IT, Kao SC, Wang AG, Tsai CC, Liang CK, Hsu WM. Preseptal and orbital cellulites: A 10-year review of hospitalized patients. J Chin Med Assoc 2006;69:415-22. [ PUBMED] [ FULLTEXT] |
7. | Chaudhry IA, Shamsi FA, Elzaridi E, Al-Rashed, Al-Amri A, Al-Anezi F, et al. Outcome of treated orbital cellulites in a tertiary eye care center in the Middle East. Ophthalmology 2007;114:345-54. |
8. | Ramesh S, Ramakrishnan R, Bharathi MJ, Amuthan M, Viswanathan S. Prevalence of bacterial pathogens causing ocular infections in South India. Indian J Pathol Microbiol 2010;53:281-6. [ PUBMED] |
|