- Kalua, Khumbo;
- Misanjo, Esther S;
- Lietman, Thomas M;
- Ruder, Kevin;
- Zhong, Lina;
- Chen, Cindi;
- Liu, YuHeng;
- Yu, Danny;
- Abraham, Thomas;
- Wu, Nathaniel;
- Yan, Daisy;
- Hinterwirth, Armin;
- Doan, Thuy;
- Seitzman, Gerami D
Infectious keratitis is a leading cause of corneal blindness worldwide with little information known about causative etiologies in Malawi, Africa. This area is resource-limited with ophthalmologist and microbiology services. The Department of Ophthalmology at the Kamuzu College of Health Sciences in Blantyre, Malawi, is a participating site of an international corneal ulcer consortium, capriCORN (Comprehensive Analysis of Pathogens, Resistomes, and Inflammatory-markers in the CORNea). In this study, 50 patients with corneal ulcers were swabbed for pathogen identification using RNA-sequencing. Corneal trauma was reported in 41% and 19% of the patients worked in agriculture. A pathogen was identified in 58% of the cases. Fungal pathogens predominated, followed by viruses and bacteria. Aspergillus, Fusarium, HSV-1, and Gardnerella were the most common pathogens detected. 50% of patients reported treatment with an antibiotic before presentation. Pathogens unusual for infectious keratitis, such as Subramaniula asteroids, Aureobasidium pullulans, and Gardnerella vaginalis, were also detected.