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Microorganisms
Special Issues
Ocular Infections and Microbiota in Health and Disease 2.0
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Ocular Infections and Microbiota in Health and Disease 2.0

A special issue of Microorganisms (ISSN 2076-2607). This special issue belongs to the section "Medical Microbiology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 March 2024) | Viewed by 12298

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Marilena Galdiero

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Experimental Medicine, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, 81100 Naples, Italy
Interests: ophthalmology; ocular infection; Candida albicans; fungal biofilms
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue is a continuation of our previous Special Issue "Ocular Infections and Microbiota in Health and Disease".

The ocular surface microbiome is composed of bacteria such as coagulase-negative Staphylococci and Corynebacterium spp., but also viruses, fungi and sometimes protozoa. The normal microbiota plays a protective immunological role in defending against the proliferation of pathogenic species . The disruption of the normal ocular surface microbiota may play a significant role as a cofactor in the pathogenesis of ophthalmic diseases. The ocular surface microbiota can be altered by several environmental influences and pathological states including dry eye syndrome, contact lens wear, keratoprosthesis, antibiotics, and infection.

Focus:

With this Special Issue, we would like to present readers with the state-of-the-art in the field of ocular infections and microbiota health and disesase. We invite experts to contribute thier original research, whether basic or clinical, on microbiota and eye infection to this Special Issue. Authors can also submit review articles describing the evolution of scientific discoveries for relationships between the microbiome and eye disease.

Dr. Marilena Galdiero
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Microorganisms is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • infection
  • microbiome
  • microbiota
  • ocular surface
  • ophthalmic disease
  • ophthalmology
  • bacterial pathogenesis

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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11 pages, 1099 KiB  
Article
Long-Term Prevalence of Fungal Keratitis at a Swiss Tertiary Eye Clinic
by Anahita Bajka, Sadiq Said, Chantal Quiblier, Bettina Schulthess, Ilana Reinhold, Daniel Barthelmes, Sandrine Anne Zweifel and Frank Blaser
Microorganisms 2024, 12(8), 1637; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms12081637 - 10 Aug 2024
Viewed by 866
Abstract
Fungal keratitis is a rare yet severe infection of the cornea. Fungal species distribution depends on the climate and socioeconomic status and can show regional variation. This retrospective single-center study was conducted at a tertiary eye care center and the collaborating Institute of [...] Read more.
Fungal keratitis is a rare yet severe infection of the cornea. Fungal species distribution depends on the climate and socioeconomic status and can show regional variation. This retrospective single-center study was conducted at a tertiary eye care center and the collaborating Institute of Medical Microbiology in Switzerland. On investigating all fungal-positive corneal scrapings and contact lens assessments of patients with keratitis from January 2012 to December 2023, 206 patients were identified, of which 113 (54.9%) were female. The median age was 38 (IQR 29.8, [18–93]), and 154 (74.8%) applied contact lenses. The most commonly found pathogen was Candida spp., followed by Fusarium spp. Molds were 1.8 times more common than yeasts. Linear regression showed no significant increase or decrease in the infection rate over time (p = 0.5). In addition, 10 patients (4.9%) were found to have coinfections with Acanthamoeba, 11 (5.3%) with HSV-1, none with HSV-2, and 4 (1.9%) with VZV. This study provides a long-term overview of fungal-positive corneal scrapings and contact lens specimens of patients with fungal keratitis. Based on our results, coinfections with Acanthamoeba, HSV, and VZV are frequent, especially in patients wearing contact lenses. Thus, wearing contact lenses may facilitate coinfection in fungal keratitis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ocular Infections and Microbiota in Health and Disease 2.0)
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11 pages, 3004 KiB  
Article
Assessing PCR-Positive Acanthamoeba Keratitis—A Retrospective Chart Review
by Frank Blaser, Anahita Bajka, Felix Grimm, Simone Metzler, Didier Herrmann, Daniel Barthelmes, Sandrine Anne Zweifel and Sadiq Said
Microorganisms 2024, 12(6), 1214; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms12061214 - 17 Jun 2024
Viewed by 917
Abstract
Ophthalmologists’ diagnostic and treatment competence in Acanthamoeba keratitis varies widely. This investigator-initiated, retrospective, single-center chart review examined the electronic patient files regarding PCR-positive Acanthamoeba keratitis. We included corneal and contact lens assessments. We further reviewed the patient’s medical history, corneal scraping results regarding [...] Read more.
Ophthalmologists’ diagnostic and treatment competence in Acanthamoeba keratitis varies widely. This investigator-initiated, retrospective, single-center chart review examined the electronic patient files regarding PCR-positive Acanthamoeba keratitis. We included corneal and contact lens assessments. We further reviewed the patient’s medical history, corneal scraping results regarding viral or fungal co-infections, and the duration from symptom onset to final diagnosis. We identified 59 eyes of 52 patients from February 2010 to February 2023, with 31 of 52 (59.6%) being female patients. The median (IQR, range) patient age was 33 (25.3 to 45.5 [13 to 90]) years, and the mean (SD, range) time to diagnosis after symptom onset was 18 (10.5 to 35 [3 to 70]) days. Overall, 7 of 52 (7.7%) patients displayed a bilateral Acanthamoeba infection, and 48 (92.3%) used contact lenses at symptom onset. Regarding other microbiological co-infections, we found virologic PCR testing in 45 of 52 (86.5%) patients, with 3 (6.7%) positive corneal scrapings. Fungal cultures were performed in 49 of 52 (94.2%) patients, with 5 (10.2%) positive corneal scrapings. The medical treatment success rate was 45/46 (97.8%). This study raises awareness of patient education in contact lens handling and screens for further microbial co-infections in suspected Acanthamoeba cases. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ocular Infections and Microbiota in Health and Disease 2.0)
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34 pages, 3113 KiB  
Article
Ocular Bacterial Infections: A Ten-Year Survey and Review of Causative Organisms Based on the Oklahoma Experience
by Roger A. Astley, Md Huzzatul Mursalin, Phillip S. Coburn, Erin T. Livingston, James W. Nightengale, Eddy Bagaruka, Jonathan J. Hunt and Michelle C. Callegan
Microorganisms 2023, 11(7), 1802; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11071802 - 13 Jul 2023
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 6012
Abstract
Ocular infections can be medical emergencies that result in permanent visual impairment or blindness and loss of quality of life. Bacteria are a major cause of ocular infections. Effective treatment of ocular infections requires knowledge of which bacteria are the likely cause of [...] Read more.
Ocular infections can be medical emergencies that result in permanent visual impairment or blindness and loss of quality of life. Bacteria are a major cause of ocular infections. Effective treatment of ocular infections requires knowledge of which bacteria are the likely cause of the infection. This survey of ocular bacterial isolates and review of ocular pathogens is based on a survey of a collection of isolates banked over a ten-year span at the Dean McGee Eye Institute in Oklahoma. These findings illustrate the diversity of bacteria isolated from the eye, ranging from common species to rare and unique species. At all sampled sites, staphylococci were the predominant bacteria isolated. Pseudomonads were the most common Gram-negative bacterial isolate, except in vitreous, where Serratia was the most common Gram-negative bacterial isolate. Here, we discuss the range of ocular infections that these species have been documented to cause and treatment options for these infections. Although a highly diverse spectrum of species has been isolated from the eye, the majority of infections are caused by Gram-positive species, and in most infections, empiric treatments are effective. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ocular Infections and Microbiota in Health and Disease 2.0)
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18 pages, 5578 KiB  
Article
Broad-Spectrum Antimicrobial Activity of Oftasecur and Visuprime Ophthalmic Solutions
by Federica Dell’Annunziata, Maria Vittoria Morone, Marco Gioia, Ferdinando Cione, Massimiliano Galdiero, Nicola Rosa, Gianluigi Franci, Maddalena De Bernardo and Veronica Folliero
Microorganisms 2023, 11(2), 503; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11020503 - 17 Feb 2023
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2258
Abstract
Due to the wide etiology of conjunctivitis, the expensive and time-consuming diagnosis requires new therapeutic strategies with broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity and nonselective mechanisms of action. In this context, eye drops could provide an alternative to conventional antimicrobial therapies. Here, we compare the antibacterial [...] Read more.
Due to the wide etiology of conjunctivitis, the expensive and time-consuming diagnosis requires new therapeutic strategies with broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity and nonselective mechanisms of action. In this context, eye drops could provide an alternative to conventional antimicrobial therapies. Here, we compare the antibacterial and antiviral activity of Oftasecur and Visuprime, commercially available ophthalmic solutions. Cytotoxicity assay was performed on Vero CCL-81 cells by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) test. Antibacterial efficacy was evaluated on Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, and Klebsiella pneumoniae by disk diffusion, broth microdilution methods, and time-killing tests. Furthermore, the antiviral activity against HSV-1 was estimated by co-treatment, cell and viral pretreatment and post-treatment, via plaque reduction assay, fluorescence assessment (GFP-engineered HSV-1), and real-time PCR. After 24 h of exposure, Oftasecur and Visuprime showed a volume-inducing 50% of cytotoxicity of 125 and 15.8 μL, respectively Oftasecur and Visuprime induced 90% antibacterial activity in response to mean volume of 10.0 and 4.4 µL for Gram-positive and Gram-negative strains, respectively. Oftasecur exerted bactericidal action on both bacterial populations, while Visuprime was bacteriostatic on Gram-negative strains and slightly bactericidal on Gram-positive bacteria. A major impact on infectivity occurred by exposure of viral particles to the ophthalmic solutions. In detail, 50% of inhibition was verified by exposing the viral particles to 3.12 and 0.84 μL of Oftasecur and Visuprime, respectively, for 1 h. The reduction of the fluorescence and the expression of the viral genes confirmed the recorded antiviral activity. Due to their high antimicrobial efficiency, Oftasecur and Visuprime could represent a valid empirical strategy for the treatment of conjunctivitis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ocular Infections and Microbiota in Health and Disease 2.0)
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8 pages, 958 KiB  
Case Report
Efficacy of the Combined Intrastromal Injection of Voriconazole and Amphotericin B in Recalcitrant Fungal Keratitis
by Antonio Moramarco, Arianna Grendele, Danilo Iannetta, Simone Ottoboni, Giulia Gregori, Natalie di Geronimo, Margherita Ortalli, Tiziana Lazzarotto and Luigi Fontana
Microorganisms 2024, 12(5), 922; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms12050922 - 30 Apr 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1209
Abstract
This study aims to report the efficacy of a combined intrastromal injection in optimizing the outcome of severe mycotic keratitis. Herein, we report a case series of 20 consecutive patients with positive fungal cultures not responding to topical antifungal treatment. Patients received cycles [...] Read more.
This study aims to report the efficacy of a combined intrastromal injection in optimizing the outcome of severe mycotic keratitis. Herein, we report a case series of 20 consecutive patients with positive fungal cultures not responding to topical antifungal treatment. Patients received cycles of intrastromal injections of voriconazole (50 µg/0.1 mL) and amphotericin B (2.5 µg/0.1 mL); all patients continued their topical antifungal therapy. The organisms isolated were Fusarium (n = 5), Aspergillus (n = 4), Candida (n = 4), Rhodotorula (n = 2), Penicillium (n = 2), Alternaria (n = 1), Bipolaris (n = 1), and Curvularia (n = 1). The size of the infiltrate varied from 6.5 to 1.5 mm. At presentation, the best corrected visual acuity (BCVA, namely, the best visual acuity achieved with glasses, if needed) was less than 20/400 in all patients, improving to better than 20/400 in eleven patients. Seven patients required surgical intervention; four of them underwent penetrating keratoplasty (PK) à chaud one month after the first intrastromal injection. Patients who underwent surgery achieved a BCVA of 20/40 or better. Combined intrastromal injections before therapeutic penetrating keratoplasty (TPK) effectively reduced ulcer size and graft diameter, preventing infection recurrence. Our results highlight the efficacy of combined intrastromal injections in optimizing outcomes for severe mycotic keratitis undergoing TPK. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ocular Infections and Microbiota in Health and Disease 2.0)
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