Clinico-Demographic Profile and Outcomes of Keratomycosis Attending a Tertiary Eye Care Referral Centre in North India - A Prospective Study

Background & Method: Corneal scraping of the patients suspected of fungal keratitis attending ophthalmology OPD and those admitted in ophthalmology ward of J A Group of Hospitals, Gajra Raja Medical College, Gwalior, M.P.Patient was made to lie down comfortably on a couch. The affected eye was cleaned with sterile saline using sterile swabs. Sterile 2% Paracaine was applied to the eye taking care not to apply too much of it as it may inhibit the growth of the organism.Result:The age and sex distribution of suspected cases were analyzed. The analysis showed that in this study 73 males and 33 females were studied. Considering the sex distribution 22(70.96%) males and 9 (29.04%) female patients showed positive culture showing higher prevalence among males. The urban and rural distribution of culture positive cases showed higher prevalence in rural population accounting for 74.19% cases. Distribution according to occupation in this study showed that maximum cases were farmer by occupation contributing about 51.61% followed by labourer 25.80%. Conclusion: Keratomycosis, an important cause of ocular morbidity was found mostly in patients residing in rural area and those who were involved in agricultural and outdoor activity. History of trauma was found to be an important predisposing factor and strongly correlated along with the clinical features. It was seen commonly in the middle age group with male preponderance. Male of this age group are often the sole earners of the family and so ocular morbidity due to this can cause grave economic consequences for them