Journal
JOURNAL OF CURRENT OPHTHALMOLOGY
Volume 30, Issue 4, Pages 381-383Publisher
WOLTERS KLUWER MEDKNOW PUBLICATIONS
DOI: 10.1016/j.joco.2018.03.001
Keywords
Ocular tuberculosis; Scrofulous keratitis; Phlyctenule; Autoimmune response
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Purpose: To report a case of autoimmune keratitis in a patient with mycobacterium tuberculosis (MBT). Methods: An 84-year-old male with pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) was admitted with chronic, non-healing bilateral ulcerations of the inferior peripheral cornea associated with stromal and subconjunctival nodules. Results: Clinical examination revealed circumscribed peripheral corneal ulceration with whitish nodules in adjacent stromal and subconjunctival tissue. Microbiological cultures of the corneal tissue were negative for MBT and other microbial pathogens; however, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) of blood and corneal samples showed significantly elevated levels of IgM and IgA against MBT. In addition to systemic anti-tuberculosis therapy, the patient was treated topically with Polyspectran (R) eye drops, Dexamethasone eye drops, and Bepanthen (R) ointment, for 2 weeks. Both eyes showed dramatic improvement after 2 weeks. Conclusion: The present report demonstrates that MBT is able to initiate delayed autoimmune response within the corneal tissue during an intensive phase of anti-tuberculosis treatment. Copyright (C) 2018, Iranian Society of Ophthalmology. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available