Molecular biological characteristics of bacterial agents — etiological factors of keratitis and corneal ulcers
- DOI
- 10.5922/ATB-2025-1-2-4
- Pages
- 58-76
Abstract
Infectious keratitis and corneal ulcers are inflammatory diseases of the corneal tissue caused by various types of bacteria, characterized by both acute and chronic course, and also manifested in the form of progressive ulceration and rapidly progressing purulent infection of any part of the corneal tissue. Bacterial corneal ulcers are one of the most severe eye pathologies due to the risk of corneal perforation and infection with the development of endophthalmitis. The aim of the study was to conduct molecular genetic studies to determine bacterial pathogens spectrum in various biological material of patients with keratitis and corneal ulcers. Pathogenic microorganisms were detected by real-time PCR with qualitative and quantitative formats. Etiologically significant microorganisms in corneal ulcers are Streptococcus species and Staphylococcus species, which were identified in the ophthalmological biological material of patients with own cornea ulcers in 80.00 ± 8.20% and 70.00 ± 7.56% of cases, respectively, and in 78.57 ± 8.36% and 64.29 ± 7.65% of cases with corneal transplant ulcers; in keratitis, Streptococcus species DNA was identified in 57.89 ± 7.18%, Staphylococcus species — 42.11 ± 6.22%. Significantly (p < 0.05) higher values of DNA concentration (106 GE/ml) were found in upper respiratory tract epithelial cells scrapings in comparison with eye biological material (104—105 GE/ml). The upper respiratory tract should be considered as a possible source of eye infection, which is confirmed by quantitative data on determining DNA concentrations.