The role of oral co-trimoxazole in treating Nocardia farcinica keratitis: a case report

Sharma, Neharika, and O'Hagan, Stephen (2016) The role of oral co-trimoxazole in treating Nocardia farcinica keratitis: a case report. Journal of Ophthalmic Inflammation and Infection, 6. 23. pp. 1-5.

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Abstract

Background: Nocardia farcinica is one of the more recently identified species of the Nocardia genus. Nocardia farcinica keratitis is a rare occurrence, with only eight previously reported cases. Semi-permeable rigid contact lens use was associated with one of these reported cases. We report the first case of an extended wear soft contact lens-related Nocardia farcinica keratitis and recommend a new treatment regime.

Findings: A 47-year-old lady presented with a right eye keratitis after wearing her extended wear soft contact lenses for five continuous weeks. There was no history of trauma or swimming with contact lenses in. Empirical ciprofloxacin and tobramycin eye drops were not tolerated due to ocular surface irritation on application, and instead, empirical treatment was with chloramphenicol and fortified gentamicin 1.5 % eye drops. Corneal scrapings grew Nocardia farcinica after 3 weeks-sensitive to amikacin and co-trimoxazole. Treatment was changed to amikacin 2.5 % eye drops, resulting in partial resolution of the corneal infiltrates. Oral co-trimoxazole 160 mg/800 mg BD was added, due to cultured drug sensitivity and its high ocular penetration, with good results and a final right eye best-corrected visual acuity of 6/5.

Conclusion: Nocardia farcinica keratitis should be considered in the differential diagnosis of contact lens-related keratitis. We report the first case occurring in association with extended wear soft contact lenses. Nocardia species can mimic fungal and acanthamoeba keratitis. Treatment with oral co-trimoxazole has not been previously reported. This case demonstrates the role of co-trimoxazole in treating Nocardia farcinica keratitis based on cultured drug sensitivities.

Item ID: 45587
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1869-5760
Keywords: Nocardia farcinica, microbial keratitis, contact lens keratitis, co-trimoxazole
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© 2016 The Author(s). This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

Publisher Error: two versions of this article were published in the 2016 Volume 6. The DOI link to the other version is included in the Related URLs field. Publisher has been contacted. 06.06.17.

Date Deposited: 03 Aug 2016 07:40
FoR Codes: 32 BIOMEDICAL AND CLINICAL SCIENCES > 3212 Ophthalmology and optometry > 321201 Ophthalmology @ 100%
SEO Codes: 92 HEALTH > 9201 Clinical Health (Organs, Diseases and Abnormal Conditions) > 920107 Hearing, Vision, Speech and Their Disorders @ 100%
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