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Is it in their eyes? Correlation between microorganisms isolated from bronchial aspirates and conjunctival swabs in a
J Ligero-López, L Escosa-García, C Schüffelmann-Gutiérrez
1Emilio Cendejas-Bueno, Clinical Microbiology Department, Hospital Universitario La Paz, Madrid, Spain, Paseo de La Castellana 261, 28046 Madrid, Spain. ecendejas77@gmail.com.
Insights
Bacteria found in the eyes of pediatric ICU patients often match those in their respiratory tracts, suggesting conjunctival swabs could help predict respiratory infections.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) Medicine
- Microbiology
- Infectious Diseases
Background:
- Respiratory infections are common in pediatric ICU patients.
- Conjunctivitis often co-occurs with respiratory infections in this population.
- Identifying the causative agents of respiratory infections is crucial for effective treatment.
Conclusions:
- There is a strong concordance between microorganisms found in the respiratory tract and eyes of pediatric ICU patients with conjunctivitis.
- Conjunctival swabs may serve as a valuable, non-invasive tool for predicting pathogens involved in respiratory infections.
- Further prospective studies are warranted to validate these findings.
Objective:
Our observational, retrospective study aimed to determine the correlation between bacteria isolated from bronchial aspirates of pediatric ICU patients (PICU) with respiratory infections and those obtained from conjunctival swabs of the same patients exhibiting clinical conjunctivitis.
Methods:
Throughout the period from 2015 to 2022, we reviewed all clinically significant bronchial aspirates (≥105 CFU/mL) and positive conjunctival swabs obtained from PICU patients. These records were retrieved from the microbiology database, cross-referencing the data to identify patients who tested positive for both during the same clinical episode.
Results:
The median age of the patients was 5 months (interquartile range: 1-7). Among the cohort, twenty-one patients exhibited positivity in both bronchial aspirate and conjunctival swab samples, showcasing a microbial match in 85.71% of cases (18 out of 21). The most frequently isolated microorganisms were Haemophilus influenzae (55.6%), followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (14.3%), Klebsiella aerogenes (9.5%), and Escherichia coli, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, and Enterobacter cloacae, each accounting for 4.8% of the isolates.
Conclusions:
Our study demonstrates a strong concordance between the isolated microorganisms from both samples in patients presenting clear symptoms of clinical conjunctivitis. These findings provide a basis for future prospective studies that may leverage conjunctival swabs as a predictive tool for identifying microorganisms involved in respiratory infections.
