PURPOSE Herpes simplex virus (HSV) DNA persists in the corneas of patients and animals with a history of herpetic keratitis. The purpose of this study was to detect viral transcripts in the corneas of latently infected rabbits with a history of herpetic keratitis to determine whether the viral DNA represents latent virus, characterized by the restricted transcription of HSV genes and accumulati...

G'orneal graft opacification may occur in the course of ocular inflammation' 2 and graft rejection may develop concommitantly or stimulated by the inflammation/' The incidence of immune graft rejections during episodes of iritis or external infections is difficult to document, due to the fact that it is not possible at the present time to separate clinically one process from the other. In our e...

PURPOSE To describe the results of therapeutic penetrating keratoplasty in patients with impending perforation or perforated infectious keratitis. METHODS Fifty-nine charts of patients with infectious keratitis who were submitted to therapeutic penetrating keratoplasty were retrospectively reviewed at the Department of Ophthalmology of the Santa Casa of São Paulo from January 2000 to December...

H erpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV), an enveloped virus with double-stranded DNA, is a major source of ocular infections. A 1982 study estimated that 400 000 people in the United States had ocular HSV infection, with 50 000 new and recurrent cases each year. Almost 20 years ago, the Herpetic Eye Disease Study Group was organized to elucidate the best treatments for HSV keratitis through the appl...

We report a prevalence study of the best visual acuity in the affected eye of 100 selected patients with herpetic keratitis seen during a two-year period. Sixty-two patients retained an acuity of 6/9 or better without requiring penetrating keratoplasty (PK). The prevalence of reduced visual acuity severe enough to warrant PK was 33%. Patients requiring PK for whom full clinical records were ava...

Photodynamic inactivation of virus was tested as a potential therapeutic tool for herpesvirus-induced keratitis, which is a leading cause of blindness and disability. Experimental keratitis produced in rabbits by infection with herpesvirus isolated from a human periorbital lesion was treated with proflavine and light. The herpetic keratitis could be rapidly resolved by the dye-light treatment, ...

AIM To study the value of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis, to detect viral DNA in recipient corneal buttons taken at the time of penetrating keratoplasty (PKP) in patients with an initial diagnosis of herpetic stromal keratitis (HSK). Since HSK has a tendency to recur, an accurate diagnosis of previous HSK could be the reason to start antiviral treatment immediately, thereby possibly d...

One of the leading global causes vision impairment due to anterior segment disease is herpes simplex keratitis (HSK). The routine clinical method in diagnosis HSK examination eye using slit lamp biomicroscopy; nevertheless, this a subjective and can potentially lead an erroneous diagnosis. Optical devices such as vivo confocal microscopy optical coherence tomography are among additional diagnos...

The authors compared 24 doses of hourly topical fortified tobramycin (Group A) therapy with a single subconjunctival administration of multivesicular megaliposome-encapsulated tobramycin (Group B) and free subconjunctival tobramycin (Group C) in treating a rabbit model of keratitis caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. One cornea each of 50 rabbits was infected with P. aeruginosa for 24 hr. The ani...