Bacteriology of normal and infected conjunctiva

The conjunctivas of 273 inflamed eyes were cultured by both aerobic and anaerobic techniques. Isolations were obtained from 267 (97.8%) of the eyes. Aerobic organisms were isolated from 237 (86.8%) of the conjunctivas. Staphylococcus aureus from 63 (23.1%) of the diseased eyes was the aerobic pathogen most often isolated. Anaerobic bacteria were isolated from 172 (63.0%) of the conjunctivas. Propionibacterium acnes was isolated from 126 (46.2%) of the conjunctivas, and Peptostreptococcus species were isolated from 80 (29.3%) of the conjunctivas. Comparison with the bacteriology of 96 normal eyes showed that anaerobes play a much greater role as etiological agents of conjunctivitis than formerly believed. When anaerobic bacteria were isolated, they appeared on the average in 7 days, indicating that they may be missed by ordinary bacteriological culturing.