Bacteriology of the Eye

THE BACTERIA which may be recovered from the normal human eye have been recorded in the literature a number of times.* The consistent findings of Micrococcus pyogenes var. albus (Staphylococcus albus) and diphtheroids in the great majority of cultures from the conjunctivae and lids of normal eyes characterize these reports. The present investigation is a study of the organisms grown from eye cultures of patients admitted to the Thigpen-Cater Eye Hospital for cataract extraction over the period from 1947 to 1952. The organisms recovered are considered as normal flora in that there are included only those cultures from patients who, upon ophthalmological examination at the time cultures were made, revealed no evidence of an infectious process in either eye. A point of interest which warrants a brief report of the results was the frequency with which certain members of the enteric Gram-negative group of bacteria were encountered. The importance of