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| Year : 1998 | Volume
: 16
| Issue : 1 | Page : 12-15 |
Conjunctivitis and acute retinal inflammation : a review of virological investigations at sankara nethralaya, Chennai
HN Madhavan
Dept. of Microbiology, vision Research Foundation, Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai 600 006
Correspondence Address:
HN Madhavan
Dept. of Microbiology, vision Research Foundation, Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai 600 006
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
ABSTRACT: Several groups of viruses cause ocular infections. This article is based on virological investigations of conjuctivitis and acute retinal inflammations at our institute. In a prospective study during the period from 1990 to 1997, 903 patients with conjunctivitis, adenovirus, herpes simplex virus (HSV) and C. trachomatis were detected in 120 (13.3 percent), 21 (2.3 percent) and 207 (22.9 percent) patients respectively. Investigations revealed epidemics due to adenovirus serotype 4 in 1991, serotype 3 in 1993 and serotype 7a in 1996. We compared polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with standard virological methods for detection of adenovirus in 74 clinical samples. Inclusion of PCR increased the sensitivity of the detection rate from 14.9 percent to 53.8 percent. Acute retinal necrosis and Cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis are vision threatening disease often occurring in immunocompromised persons. Intraocular fluids [aqueous humor (AH) or vitreous fluid (VF) from 24 patients with acute retinal inflammation were tested for the presence of HSV, Varicella zoster virus (VZV) and CMV during 1991-97. In 14 patients the viral cause was confirmed by viral antigen detection or virus isolation or both (HSV :4 VZV: 6 and CMV: 4). Four patients had serological evidence of virus infection (HSV:3 and VZV:1).
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