Changing patterns of microbial contamination and antimicrobial sensitivity in donor eyes

Contaminating microbial flora and their in vitro antibiotic sensitivity pattern was determined for 1557 eyes from donor cadavers collected during five years. Positive cultures were obtained in 42.77% of the eyes; bacterial growth was observed in 39.17% of the eyes and fungal growth, in 3.6%. There was significant variation in the rate of contamination from year to year during the study period. Staphylococcus albus was the most frequently isolated organism (28.10%), followed by Acinetobacter spp., Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Alcaligenes faecalis, respectively. Most of the organisms were resistant to commonly used antibiotics with a low weighted index of effectiveness, particularly toward gentamicin (resistance, 50.82%). The findings were compared with previous data from the same eye bank, and the variations are discussed.