Microbial keratitis is an inflammation of the cornea due to a bacterial infection.  It causes the cornea to become cloudy, decreasing vision and causing pain, light sensitivity, redness and eyelids that stick together upon waking.  Risk factors include wearing contact lenses overnight, or using contaminated makeup.

However, these risk factors are unlikely to be the cause of microbial keratitis in children.  A recent study looked at cases of microbial keratitis in children 3- 60 months old, and found a strong correlation with severe protein-energy malnutrition and incomplete immunization.  Twenty-four percent of those cases required emergency corneal transplantation, and that subset was also associated with severe protein-energy malnutrition and infection in both eyes.

For an abstract of the study, click here ^[1].

Risa Schulman, PhD
Expert, Healthy Food and Dietary Supplement Science, Marketing and Regulatory
Tap~Root