Topical antibiotic therapy of staphylococcal keratitis
A. Kupferman and H. M. Leibowitz
The in vivo antibacterial effectiveness in the rabbit cornea of a number of
commercially available ophthalmic antibiotic preparations was determined
against a single strain of penicillinase-producing Staphylococcus aureus
isolated from a human corneal ulcer. Each antibiotic was instilled
topically at hourly intervals, and the number of residual viable organisms
in the cornea subsequently was ascertained. In vivo measurements
demonstrated that five antibiotics--neomycin sulfate, gentamicin sulfate,
erythromycin, tetracycline hydrochloride, and chlortetracycline
hydrochloride--were equally effective in suppressing growth of the strain
of S aureus studied. Therapeutic results were the same whether the corneal
epithelium was present of absent for each of the drugs studied. With one
exception (chloramphenicol), there was excellent correlation between in
vivo and in vitro findings.
