Conjunctival Bacterial Flora and Antibiotic Resistance Pattern in Patients Undergoing Cataract Surgery

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the conjunctival bacterial flora and its antibiotic susceptibility pattern in eyes of patients undergoing cataract surgery. Methodology: Conjunctival soap was obtained on the day of surgery before the application of topical anesthetic, antibiotic or povidone-iodine. Culture and antibiotic susceptibility tests were performed. The data was analyseed with X2 and T tests. Results: Of the 170 patients 89 cases (52.4%) had positive cultures in the eyes. In 79 eyes (88.8%) found coagulase-negative Staphylococcus (CoNS). Eighty two cases (95.3%) of isolated Staphylococcus were susceptible to Amikacin, 86 (100%) sensitive to Ciprofloxacin and 42 (48.8%) sensitive to Ceftazidime. Average susceptibility and resistancy to antibiotics was 2.6 (±1.8) antibiotics in women and 1.6(±1.4) in men (P= 0.009). Conclusions: This study showed that the bacterium most frequently found in the conjunctival flora of the patients undergoing cataract surgery was CoNS. Isolates of this bacterium had low CoNS susceptibility rates to Caftazidime and Vancomycin and high susceptibility to Ciprofloxacin and Amikacin. KEY-WORDS: Bacterial flora, Drug resistance, Cataract, Endophthalmitis, Coagulase-negative staphylococcus. Pak J Med Sci July September 2008 Vol. 24 No. 4 581-585 How to cite this article: Ansari MR, Madani H, Ghaderi E. Conjunctival bacterial flora and antibiotic resistance pattern in patients undergoing cataract surgery. Pak J Med Sci 2008;24(4): 581-5. 1. Mohammad Reza Ansari, MD Assistant Professor, 2. Hamid Madani, Pathologist, Assistant Professor, 1-2: Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran. 3. Ebrahim Ghaderi, MD Student of PhD Epidemiology, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Health and Nutrition College, Shiraz, Iran.