An examination of the clonal variants of Serratia marcescens that infect the eye during contact lens wear

• Published in: Journal of medical microbiology Vol. 45; no. 2; pp. 127 - 132
• Main Authors: HUME, E. B. H, WILLCOX, M. D. P, SWEENEY, D. F, HOLDEN, B. A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Reading Soc General Microbiol 01.08.1996; Society for General Microbiology
• Subjects: Bacterial Typing Techniques; Bacteriological methods and techniques used in bacteriology; Bacteriology; Biological and medical sciences; Colony Count, Microbial; Contact Lenses, Extended-Wear - adverse effects; Contact Lenses, Hydrophilic - adverse effects; DNA, Bacterial - analysis; Eye - microbiology; Eye Infections, Bacterial - etiology; Eye Infections, Bacterial - microbiology; Fingers - microbiology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Microbiology; Serotyping; Serratia Infections - etiology; Serratia Infections - microbiology; Serratia marcescens; Serratia marcescens - classification; Serratia marcescens - genetics; Serratia marcescens - metabolism; Human; Typing; Contact lens; Genotype; Eye; Variant; Serratia marcescens; Bacteria; Isolate; Serotype; Biological contamination; Colonization; Enterobacteriaceae
• ISSN: 0022-2615; 1473-5644
• DOI: 10.1099/00222615-45-2-127

Cooperative Research Centre for Eye Research and Technology, University of New South Wales, NSW 2052, Australia Corresponding author: Dr E. B. H. Hume. Received June 6, 1995 Accepted January 8, 1996 Serratia marcescens colonises contact lenses during wear, although the frequency of isolation is generally low (0.6% contamination rate). A method for typing the S. marcescens colonising the eye or contact lens was developed, based upon ribotyping, serotyping and biotyping. Twelve different types of S. marcescens were isolated from the eyes, contact lenses, contact lens cases and fingers of contact lens wearers in the Sydney area over a 2-year period. There was no evidence of a specific type being more readily able to colonise the contact lenses than other types. Indeed, eight S. marcescens strains were isolated from the lenses and these belonged to seven types. The diversity of types isolated from the eye indicates that there is probably not a subset of S. marcescens that can colonise the eye, although the results suggest that the types of strains isolated from contact lenses are different from those isolated from nosocomial infections.