[Bacterial etiology of eye infections]

The purpose of this study was to determine the etiologic agents in bacterial ocular infections, their antibiotic sensitivities and the most suitable conditions for the microbiological diagnosis, using several methods. 200 patients who were diagnosed to have bacterial conjuntivitis (111 cases), corneal ulcers (39 cases), dacryocystitis (34 cases) or infections of the eyelids (16 cases) at the ophthalmology department of our university were taken as the patient group and there were 100 normal people in the control group. The frequency and species of bacteria isolated from both groups are similar to those in the literature. In cases of conjunctivitis, the results of the direct smears were parallel to the results obtained by cultures in 8.2% of the cases. The percentage of growth was higher when the specimen was inoculated immediately in the clinic compared to the results obtained by inoculations which were performed in the laboratory. According to the results of the antibiotic sensitivity tests, chloramphenicol should take the first place among the antibiotics which are in general use for gr (+) and gr (-) bacteria, and tetracyclines should take the second place while waiting for the results of the cultures.