Acanthamoeba, fungal, and bacterial keratitis: a comparison of risk factors and clinical features.

PURPOSE To determine risk factors and clinical signs that may differentiate between bacterial, fungal, and acanthamoeba keratitis among patients presenting with presumed infectious keratitis. DESIGN Hospital-based cross-sectional study. METHODS We examined the medical records of 115 patients with laboratory-proven bacterial keratitis, 115 patients with laboratory-proven fungal keratitis, and 115 patients with laboratory-proven acanthamoeba keratitis seen at Aravind Eye Hospital, Madurai, India, from 2006-2011. Risk factors and clinical features of the 3 organisms were compared using multinomial logistic regression. RESULTS Of 95 patients with bacterial keratitis, 103 patients with fungal keratitis, and 93 patients with acanthamoeba keratitis who had medical records available for review, 287 (99%) did not wear contact lenses. Differentiating features were more common for acanthamoeba keratitis than for bacterial or fungal keratitis. Compared to patients with bacterial or fungal keratitis, patients with acanthamoeba keratitis were more likely to be younger and to have a longer duration of symptoms, and to have a ring infiltrate or disease confined to the epithelium. CONCLUSIONS Risk factors and clinical examination findings can be useful for differentiating acanthamoeba keratitis from bacterial and fungal keratitis.