Association Between Serratia Marcescens Contamination And Hygiene Compliance In Orthokeratology
Published 2024 - 42nd Congress of the ESCRS
Reference: PO706 | Type: Poster | DOI: 10.82333/ekh3-qy11
Authors: Hung Chih Chen* 1
1Department of Ophthalmology,Show Chwan Memorial Hospital,Changhua,Taiwan, Province of China;Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences,China Medical University,Taichung,Taiwan, Province of China
Purpose
Given the characteristics of Serratia marcescens, this study aimed at investigating its presence in the hands and contact lens cases of orthokeratology (Ortho-K) wearers, along with the status of bacterial contamination.
Setting
Orthokeratology (Ortho-K) plays a crucial role as an overnight-wear contact lens technique for controlling the progression of myopia. However, the overnight wearing of Ortho-K lenses may increase the risk of microbial keratitis and corneal ulcer. Due to the high prevalence of myopia and high utility rate of Ortho-K in Taiwan, the aim of this study is to investigate the association between Serratia marcescens contamination and hygiene compliance in Ortho-K.
Methods
This prospective cross-sectional study has been conducted in the Show Chwan Memorial Hospital (IRB number-1080507). All participants had provided written informed consents. The inclusion criteria consisted of cases with myopia who had received Ortho-K treatment during the study period. The exclusion criteria included individuals diagnosed with infectious keratitis, those with concurrent ophthalmic diseases such as allergic or inflamed conjunctivitis or orbital cellulitis, or those with wound infection on the hands. In this study, a total of 39 contact lens samples from 39 patients were collected from June to August in 2020 when they return for myopia following up.
Results
The detection rate of S. marcescens were 5.13% and 12.82% from contact lens cases and hands samples. The occurrences of bacterial DNA were 66.67% and 30.77% from contact lens cases and hands samples. The association between S. marcescens, 16S bacterial amplicons, and various wearing habit parameters are conducted. A significant association was observed between the presence of S. marcescens in hand samples and the duration of Ortho-K lenses usage (p=0.021). Besides, another significant association was found between the presence of bacterial 16s in hand samples and the duration of Ortho-K lenses usage (p=0.048) and the use of eye drops after taking off the contact lens (p=0.049).
Conclusions
The results indicate that hand hygiene is more critical than focusing on contact lens case hygiene when it comes to preventing S. marcescens infections. Nevertheless, both proper hand and contact lens case hygiene practices can reduce the detection of bacterial eye pathogens, especially those stemming from common intestinal bacterium.