Document Type
Article
Original Publication Date
2015
Journal/Book/Conference Title
Journal of Community Hospital International Medicine Perspectives
Volume
5
DOI of Original Publication
10.3402/jchimp.v5.28769
Date of Submission
December 2015
Abstract
A 47-year-old African-American woman was admitted to the intensive care unit of our community hospital for respiratory failure secondary to severe decompensated heart failure, requiring intubation. In the ensuing days, she developed a methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection of the cornea, despite no growth of MRSA in multiple blood, sputum, and urine cultures. This unexpected corneal infection complicated her hospital stay, and increased morbidity and disease-related cost. Risk factors, warning signs, and preventative measures for MRSA keratitis secondary to lagophthalmos (inability to completely close one's eyelids) are outlined in this case report. Implementing simple precautions such as taping eyelids shut or using artificial lubrication may reduce patient morbidity and disease-related costs. These recommendations are directed to non-ophthalmic clinicians who provide care to patients in settings where MRSA colonization is widespread.
Rights
Copyright © 2015 Puneet S. Braich et al. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, permitting all non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Is Part Of
VCU Ophthalmology Publications
Comments
Originally published at http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/jchimp.v5.28769