Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate whether conjunctival flora is different in patient with chronic renal disease (CR) among its subgroups and healthy subjects.
Methods: A total of 105 adult CRD patients (35 hemodialysis (HD), 35 diabetic hemodialysis (DHD) and 35 renal transplantation (RT) and 40 healthy subjects were enrolled. After ophthalmologic examination, a swab was taken from the lower fornix of the right eye using a cotton-tipped applicator and directly sub cultured on 5 % sheep’s blood agar, chocolate agar and eosin methylene blue agar. Microbiological identification was made by using the Vitek 2 (bioMerieux, France).
Results: The order of bacterial growth rates in the groups are RT (65%), DHD (57%), HD (56%), and control (48%). RT group had statistically significant difference from the control group (p<0.05), but there is no difference among other groups. There is also no correlation with the duration of diabetes, hemodialysis, and transplantation with bacterial growth. The most frequently isolated bacteria are Staphylococcus hominis (23%) and Kocuria rosea (11%) in HD; Staphylococcus epidermidis (20%) and S. hominis (15%) in DHD; K. rosea (17%) and S. hominis (14%) in RT and S. epidermidis (22%) and K. rosea (10%) in controls.
Conclusion: The most prominently isolated bacteria in the RT group, and overall were Coagulase Negative Staphylococcus (CoNS) species. Unlike previous reports, S. aureus, a more pathogenic microorganism, was less isolated, but Kocuria species were detected as one of the most prevalent types in this study. The study suggests the condition of hemodialysis and diabetes have a little effect on bacterial flora, and the group of RT receiving immunosuppressive drugs had a significant difference in both bacterial growth and flora diversity.

Keywords

chronic renal failure, conjunctiva, diabetes complications