Causes of conjunctivitis and keratoconjunctivitis in Karachi, Pakistan

The causes of conjunctivitis and keratoconjunctivitis in 388 patients who attended eye casualty departments in Karachi, Pakistan, during a 5 month period were investigated. Most of these infections were diagnosed as adenovirus (291, 75%) or bacterial (71, 18·3%). Of the remainder, 9 cases (2·3%) were caused by herpes simplex virus and 7 (1·8%) by Chalmydia trachomatis. There was no evidence of typical active trachoma in this urban population. Bacteria or Candida albicans were also grown from 44 of the adenovirus cases (15%). Many of the bacteria grown from eyes in this study were resistant to antibiotics, probably because of inadequate and/or inappropriate self-medication with antibiotics in this community.