From Our 2008 Archives Corneal Transplants Can Carry Infection
Risk Latest Eyesight News TUESDAY, Feb. 12 (HealthDay News) --
People who donate corneas are giving the gift of sight, but they
may also be passing along a serious infection to the recipients,
a new study finds. This infection, called endophthalmitis, most
commonly comes from donors who die in a hospital or had cancer,
according to the report in the February issue of the Archives of
Ophthalmology. Endophthalmitis is a rare but serious
complication of corneal transplant surgery and can result in
loss of vision or blindness in the affected eye. "A national
study over a decade showed that serious infection with
endophthalmitis, after corneal transplant surgery, is uncommonly
reported, but can be caused by a range of microbes, including
bacteria and fungi," said study co-author Dr. Kirk R. Wilhelmus,
a professor of ophthalmology at Baylor University College of
Medicine in Houston. "The chance for infection is higher if eye
tissue donations came from d