Purpose

To describe a unique case of LASIK flap fungal keratitis confirmed by next generation sequencing.

Observations

A 56-year-old female presented with refractory keratitis involving her LASIK flap 21 years after surgery. Confocal was positive for filamentous structures. The patient underwent immediate flap amputation followed by topical antifungal treatment. Corneal culture was positive for Acremonium sp. Metagenomic deep sequencing confirmed Acremonium as the primary source of infection and also identified Fusarium as a likely contributor of a mixed fungal infection. Sequencing also identified hay as the likely source of the infection. Treatment resulted in eradication of the infection. The patient's final best corrected visual acuity was 20/30 with rigid contact lens overrefraction.

Conclusions

Metagenomic deep sequencing is a novel diagnostic tool that is increasingly being utilized for diagnosis of refractory keratitis. This case demonstrates the diagnostic potential of deep sequencing for identifying post-LASIK keratitis and reinforces the utility of LASIK flap amputation in the setting of tectonic flap instability due to keratolysis.

Importance

This case highlights several important clinical points for treating LASIK flap keratitis and highlights the emerging role metagenomic sequencing has in the diagnosis of infectious keratitis. This is first known case using next generation sequencing to diagnose a post-LASIK infectious keratitis.

Purpose

Understanding the spectrum of pathogens in a given geographic region is important when deciding on empiric antibiotic therapy. In this study, we evaluate the spectrum of bacterial organisms cultured from corneal samples and their antibiotic sensitivities to guide initial treatment of keratitis.

Methods

We performed a retrospective case review of cultures from suspected infectious keratitis cases at the Francis I. Proctor Foundation, University of California, San Francisco, from 1996 through 2015. Logistic regression models were used to assess the risk of culturing methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) from ulcers over time and the association between the year cultured and moxifloxacin resistance.

Results

A total of 522 of 2203 (23.7%) cultures grew bacterial organisms believed to be the etiology of infection, with available antibiotic sensitivity data. Of these, 338 (65.3%) grew gram-positive organisms with the most common being methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (20.1%, N = 105). One hundred eighty (34.7%) grew gram-negative species with Pseudomonas aeruginosa as the most prevalent organism (10.9%, N = 57). There was 1.13 increased odds of culturing MRSA for each 1-year increase in the culture date (P = 0.01) and 1.26 increased odds of culturing an organism resistant to moxifloxacin with each 1-year increase in the culture date after controlling for the infectious organism (P < 0.001).

Conclusions

Gram-positive organisms are the most commonly identified etiology of microbial keratitis in this series. Approximately 35% of cultured organisms had variable susceptibility to moxifloxacin, and resistance seems to be increasing over time. The risk of culturing MRSA increased over time.

Importance

Internet-based search engine and social media data may provide a novel complementary source for better understanding the epidemiologic factors of infectious eye diseases, which could better inform eye health care and disease prevention.

Objective

To assess whether data from internet-based social media and search engines are associated with objective clinic-based diagnoses of conjunctivitis.

Design, setting, and participants

Data from encounters of 4143 patients diagnosed with conjunctivitis from June 3, 2012, to April 26, 2014, at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Medical Center, were analyzed using Spearman rank correlation of each weekly observation to compare demographics and seasonality of nonallergic conjunctivitis with allergic conjunctivitis. Data for patient encounters with diagnoses for glaucoma and influenza were also obtained for the same period and compared with conjunctivitis. Temporal patterns of Twitter and Google web search data, geolocated to the United States and associated with these clinical diagnoses, were compared with the clinical encounters. The a priori hypothesis was that weekly internet-based searches and social media posts about conjunctivitis may reflect the true weekly clinical occurrence of conjunctivitis.

Main outcomes and measures

Weekly total clinical diagnoses at UCSF of nonallergic conjunctivitis, allergic conjunctivitis, glaucoma, and influenza were compared using Spearman rank correlation with equivalent weekly data on Tweets related to disease or disease-related keyword searches obtained from Google Trends.

Results

Seasonality of clinical diagnoses of nonallergic conjunctivitis among the 4143 patients (2364 females [57.1%] and 1776 males [42.9%]) with 5816 conjunctivitis encounters at UCSF correlated strongly with results of Google searches in the United States for the term pink eye (ρ, 0.68 [95% CI, 0.52 to 0.78]; P < .001) and correlated moderately with Twitter results about pink eye (ρ, 0.38 [95% CI, 0.16 to 0.56]; P < .001) and with clinical diagnosis of influenza (ρ, 0.33 [95% CI, 0.12 to 0.49]; P < .001), but did not significantly correlate with seasonality of clinical diagnoses of allergic conjunctivitis diagnosis at UCSF (ρ, 0.21 [95% CI, -0.02 to 0.42]; P = .06) or with results of Google searches in the United States for the term eye allergy (ρ, 0.13 [95% CI, -0.06 to 0.32]; P = .19). Seasonality of clinical diagnoses of allergic conjunctivitis at UCSF correlated strongly with results of Google searches in the United States for the term eye allergy (ρ, 0.44 [95% CI, 0.24 to 0.60]; P < .001) and eye drops (ρ, 0.47 [95% CI, 0.27 to 0.62]; P < .001).

Conclusions and relevance

Internet-based search engine and social media data may reflect the occurrence of clinically diagnosed conjunctivitis, suggesting that these data sources can be leveraged to better understand the epidemiologic factors of conjunctivitis.

Purpose of review

Topical corticosteroid use in the setting of infectious keratitis has been a controversial issue. The aim of this review is to provide an update on the evidence for use of topical corticosteroids in addition to antibiotics in bacterial keratitis.

Recent findings

Judicious use of steroids is postulated to limit the inflammatory component of bacterial keratitis, but can theoretically retard healing. Three small randomized controlled trials and one large-scale trial, the Steroids for Corneal Ulcers Trial, have provided the most recent evidence to address this debate. Adjunctive topical corticosteroids initiated after at least 48 h of antibiotic usage in cases of culture-proven bacterial keratitis appear generally safe in the treatment of bacterial keratitis. They may be beneficial in cases of severe ulcers especially when initiated early in the course of the infection, in non-Nocardia ulcers, and in certain Pseudomonas ulcers.

Summary

Several randomized controlled trials have greatly contributed to our understanding of the controversy over steroid use in the management of bacterial keratitis. Future studies are needed to confirm subgroup analysis findings and define optimal timing, dosage, and the most appropriate treatment populations.

Purpose

Epidemic and seasonal infectious conjunctivitis outbreaks can impact education, workforce, and economy adversely. Yet conjunctivitis typically is not a reportable disease, potentially delaying mitigating intervention. Our study objective was to determine if conjunctivitis epidemics could be identified using Google Trends search data.

Design

Search data for conjunctivitis-related and control search terms from 5 years and countries worldwide were obtained. Country and term were masked. Temporal scan statistics were applied to identify candidate epidemics. Candidates then were assessed for geotemporal concordance with an a priori defined collection of known reported conjunctivitis outbreaks, as a measure of sensitivity.

Participants

Populations by country that searched Google's search engine using our study terms.

Main outcome measures

Percent of known conjunctivitis outbreaks also found in the same country and period by our candidate epidemics, identified from conjunctivitis-related searches.

Results

We identified 135 candidate conjunctivitis epidemic periods from 77 countries. Compared with our a priori defined collection of known reported outbreaks, candidate conjunctivitis epidemics identified 18 of 26 (69% sensitivity) of the reported country-wide or island nationwide outbreaks, or both; 9 of 20 (45% sensitivity) of the reported region or district-wide outbreaks, or both; but far fewer nosocomial and reported smaller outbreaks. Similar overall and individual sensitivity, as well as specificity, were found on a country-level basis. We also found that 83% of our candidate epidemics had start dates before (of those, 20% were more than 12 weeks before) their concurrent reported outbreak's report issuance date. Permutation tests provided evidence that on average, conjunctivitis candidate epidemics occurred geotemporally closer to outbreak reports than chance alone suggests (P < 0.001) unlike control term candidates (P = 0.40).

Conclusions

Conjunctivitis outbreaks can be detected using temporal scan analysis of Google search data alone, with more than 80% detected before an outbreak report's issuance date, some as early as the reported outbreak's start date. Future approaches using data from smaller regions, social media, and more search terms may improve sensitivity further and cross-validate detected candidates, allowing identification of candidate conjunctivitis epidemics from Internet search data potentially to complementarily benefit traditional reporting and detection systems to improve epidemic awareness.

Objective

To determine whether procedure room temperature or humidity during LASIK affect refractive outcomes in a large patient sample.

Design

Retrospective cohort study.

Participants

A total of 202 394 eyes of 105 712 patients aged 18 to 75 years who underwent LASIK at an Optical Express, Inc., location in their United Kingdom and Ireland centers from January 1, 2008, to June 30, 2011, who met inclusion criteria.

Methods

Patient age, gender, flap creation technique, pre- and 1-month post-LASIK manifest refraction, and ambient temperature and humidity during LASIK were recorded. Effect size determination and univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to characterize the relationships between LASIK procedure room temperature and humidity and postoperative refractive outcome.

Main outcome measures

One month post-LASIK manifest refraction.

Results

No clinically significant effect of procedure room temperature or humidity was found on LASIK refractive outcomes. When considering all eyes in our population, an increase of 1°C during LASIK was associated with a 0.003 diopter (D) more hyperopic refraction 1 month postoperatively, and an increase in 1% humidity was associated with a 0.0004 more myopic refraction. These effect sizes were the same or similar when considering only myopic eyes, only hyperopic eyes, and subgroups of eyes stratified by age and preoperative refractive error.

Conclusions

Neither procedure room temperature nor humidity during LASIK were found to have a clinically significant relationship with postoperative manifest refraction in our population.

Purpose

The objective of this study was to determine current practices and opinions among cornea specialists for treating and preventing recurrences of herpes zoster ophthalmicus (HZO).

Methods

In November 2010, a survey of 15 questions was distributed to The Cornea Society listserv. Questions identified respondents' treatment practices for recurrent HZO and opinions regarding prolonged antiviral prophylaxis and zoster vaccine.

Results

Of 100 respondents, the majority were cornea specialists (83 of 98, 85%). Eighty-seven percent (84 of 97) reported treating recurrent or chronic cases of HZO in the last year. The most common choice of treatment in the posed recurrent HZO clinical scenario was a combination of oral antiviral and topical corticosteroid (63 of 100, 63%), although significant variability existed in the duration of oral antiviral administration. Fifty-four respondents (56%) believed that prolonged acyclovir prophylaxis could reduce recurrent signs of HZO; 28% (27 of 98) believed that recurrences of HZO could be reduced after the period of acyclovir administration. For patients with a history of HZO, most respondents reported not recommending the adult zoster vaccine (63 of 98, 64%), but 46% (43 of 94) believed that the vaccine could reduce recurrent signs or did not know.

Conclusions

Many cornea specialists are managing recurrent or chronic cases of HZO, but there is variability in the use of topical corticosteroids and antivirals. Additionally, no consensus exists on the efficacy of prolonged antiviral therapy or the adult zoster vaccine to reduce chronic or recurrent disease. These results demonstrate the need for further systematic study of treatment and prophylaxis for recurrent and chronic HZO.

Background

In a prior study at the start of the pandemic, we reported reduced numbers of Google searches for the term "conjunctivitis" in the United States in March and April 2020 compared with prior years. As one explanation, we conjectured that reduced information-seeking may have resulted from social distancing reducing contagious conjunctivitis cases. Here, after 1 year of continued implementation of social distancing, we asked if there have been persistent reductions in searches for "conjunctivitis," and similarly for other communicable disease terms, compared to control terms.

Objective

The aim of this study was to determine if reduction in searches in the United States for terms related to conjunctivitis and other common communicable diseases occurred in the spring-winter season of the COVID-19 pandemic, and to compare this outcome to searches for terms representing noncommunicable conditions, COVID-19, and to seasonality.

Methods

Weekly relative search frequency volume data from Google Trends for 68 search terms in English for the United States were obtained for the weeks of March 2011 through February 2021. Terms were classified a priori as 16 terms related to COVID-19, 29 terms representing communicable conditions, and 23 terms representing control noncommunicable conditions. To reduce bias, all analyses were performed while masked to term names, classifications, and locations. To test for the significance of changes during the pandemic, we detrended and compared postpandemic values to those expected based on prepandemic trends, per season, computing one- and two-sided P values. We then compared these P values between term groups using Wilcoxon rank-sum and Fisher exact tests to assess if non-COVID-19 terms representing communicable diseases were more likely to show significant reductions in searches in 2020-2021 than terms not representing such diseases. We also assessed any relationship between a term's seasonality and a reduced search trend for the term in 2020-2021 seasons. P values were subjected to false discovery rate correction prior to reporting. Data were then unmasked.

Results

Terms representing conjunctivitis and other communicable conditions showed a sustained reduced search trend in the first 4 seasons of the 2020-2021 COVID-19 pandemic compared to prior years. In comparison, the search for noncommunicable condition terms was significantly less reduced (Wilcoxon and Fisher exact tests, P<.001; summer, autumn, winter). A significant correlation was also found between reduced search for a term in 2020-2021 and seasonality of that term (Theil-Sen, P<.001; summer, autumn, winter). Searches for COVID-19-related conditions were significantly elevated compared to those in prior years, and searches for influenza-related terms were significantly lower than those for prior years in winter 2020-2021 (P<.001).

Conclusions

We demonstrate the low-cost and unbiased use of online search data to study how a wide range of conditions may be affected by large-scale interventions or events such as social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings support emerging clinical evidence implicating social distancing and the COVID-19 pandemic in the reduction of communicable disease and on ocular conditions.

Background

Recurrent conjunctivitis epidemics are prevalent worldwide. Aetiologies are often undetermined.

Methods

We surveyed conjunctivitis researchers about perceived trends in prevalence, incidence and aetiologies of conjunctivitis epidemics.

Results

Of the 155 participants, 7% endorsed globally variable and dynamic microbial aetiologies of conjunctivitis epidemics. Increased incidence of conjunctivitis epidemics over the last decade were reported by 21% of respondents. Peak seasons differed between the northern and southern hemispheres.

Conclusions

There is regional equipoise regarding the increasing incidence and emerging underlying aetiologies of epidemic conjunctivitis. Further investigation of global surveillance and microbial characterization of conjunctivitis outbreaks could improve prevention and outcomes.