Opportunistic bacteria involved in eye infections

Abstract

This article aims to describe opportunistic bacteria that cause eye infections. For this effect, a literature search was performed in various databases (PubMed, SciELO, EBSCO Medline, ProQuest, ScienceDirect and Scopus) and books. It was found that opportunistic bacteria causing eye infections are resident or transient inhabitants of the ocular microbiota: <em>Staphylococcus epidermidis, Corynebacterium</em> sp, <em>Propionibacterium</em> sp, and <em>Micrococcus</em> of the environment: <em>Enterobacter erogenes, Citrobacter, Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter, Sphingomonas, Bradyrhizobium, Aquabacterium, Brevundimonas</em>, and <em>Bacillus</em> and of animals: <em>Francisella tularensis, Chlamydia psittacii</em>, and <em>Leptospira</em>. These bacteria cause conjunctivitis, blepharitis, dacryocystitis, endophthalmitis, cellulitis, keratitis, and uveitis in immunocompromised patients, more often than 37%. In addition, most species are multi-resistant to antimicrobials, due to which they represent a public health problem that requires the study of their habitats and their modes of transmission, as well as diagnosis and monitoring by staff of visual and ocular health.