Fungal keratitis has a high incidence in China and its clinical treatment is very difficult, and its etiology diagnosis and appraisal is the premise to improve the prognosis of disease.With the changes of regional environment and climate in recent years, whether the spectrum of fungal keratitis change in South China is remarkable.

The purpose of this study was to investigate recent pathogenic distribution of fungal keratitis in South China area.

The consecutive fungal culture

of 3 350 purulent keratitis at Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center from January 2009 to December 2014 were retrospectively reviewed.The positive rate of fungal culture, genus or species distribution, seasonal distribution and different term distribution were analyzed. Results The culture-positive rate was 31.34% in this study (1 050/3 350), and the average culture-positive number was 175 strains per year.In the positive fungus, the highest positive rate was Fusarium SP (32.10%, 337/1 050), and followed by Aspergillus SP (25.71%, 270/1 050), Heminthosporium SP (14.29%, 150/1 050) and Mucor SP (9.14%, 96/1 050). The fungal culture-positive rate was 36.05% (367/1 018) in 2009 to 2010, 32.45% (324/1 014) in 2011 to 2012, and 26.86% (354/1 318) in 2013 to 2014, respectively, with a significant difference among the three periods (χ²=22.37, P<0.01), showing a decreasing tendency of incidence.Two hundreds and sixty-one strains were isolated from January to March (31.15%, 261/838), 182 strains from April to June (25.53%, 182/713), 237 strains from July to September (30.00%, 237/790), 370 strains from October to December (36.67%, 370/1 009), showing a statistically significant difference among them (χ²=25.19, P<0.01). The number of infectious strains was most during October to December and fewest during April to June.

The leading pathogenic fungi of fungal keratitis is Fusarium SP and followed by Aspergillus SP, Helminthosporium SP, Mucor SP in turn.Fungal keratitis is usually prevalent from October to December, and its incidence is still rising in Chinese mainland recently.However, the increasing tendency in South China has been prevented in recent six years.

Cornea/microbiology; Corneal ulcer/microbiology; Eye infections, fungal/microbiology; Mycoses/microbiology; Humans; South China