{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,29]],"date-time":"2026-10-29T05:36:19Z","timestamp":1793252179619,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":21,"publisher":"American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,9,4]],"date-time":"2024-09-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1725408000000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2024,9,4]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>ABSTRACT.<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Infectious keratitis is a leading cause of corneal blindness worldwide with little information known about causative etiologies in Malawi, Africa. This area is resource-limited with ophthalmologist and microbiology services. The Department of Ophthalmology at the Kamuzu College of Health Sciences in Blantyre, Malawi, is a participating site of an international corneal ulcer consortium, capriCORN (Comprehensive Analysis of Pathogens, Resistomes, and Inflammatory-markers in the CORNea). In this study, 50 patients with corneal ulcers were swabbed for pathogen identification using RNA-sequencing. Corneal trauma was reported in 41% and 19% of the patients worked in agriculture. A pathogen was identified in 58% of the cases. Fungal pathogens predominated, followed by viruses and bacteria. <jats:italic>Aspergillus<\/jats:italic>, <jats:italic>Fusarium<\/jats:italic>, HSV-1, and <jats:italic>Gardnerella<\/jats:italic> were the most common pathogens detected. 50% of patients reported treatment with an antibiotic before presentation. Pathogens unusual for infectious keratitis, such as <jats:italic>Subramaniula asteroids<\/jats:italic>, <jats:italic>Aureobasidium pullulans<\/jats:italic>, and <jats:italic>Gardnerella vaginalis<\/jats:italic>, were also detected.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.4269\/ajtmh.24-0149","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,7,24]],"date-time":"2024-07-24T19:23:47Z","timestamp":1721849027000},"page":"694-697","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["Etiologies of Infectious Keratitis in Malawi"],"prefix":"10.4269","volume":"111","author":[{"given":"Khumbo","family":"Kalua","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Ophthalmology, Kamuzu College of Health Sciences, Blantyre, Malawi;"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Esther S.","family":"Misanjo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Ophthalmology, Kamuzu College of Health Sciences, Blantyre, Malawi;"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Thomas M.","family":"Lietman","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Francis I. Proctor Foundation, University of California, San Francisco, California;"},{"name":"Department of Ophthalmology, University of California, San Francisco, California"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kevin","family":"Ruder","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Francis I. Proctor Foundation, University of California, San Francisco, California;"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lina","family":"Zhong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Francis I. Proctor Foundation, University of California, San Francisco, California;"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Cindi","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Francis I. Proctor Foundation, University of California, San Francisco, California;"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"YuHeng","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Francis I. Proctor Foundation, University of California, San Francisco, California;"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Danny","family":"Yu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Francis I. Proctor Foundation, University of California, San Francisco, California;"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Thomas","family":"Abraham","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Francis I. Proctor Foundation, University of California, San Francisco, California;"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nathaniel","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Francis I. Proctor Foundation, University of California, San Francisco, California;"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Daisy","family":"Yan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Francis I. Proctor Foundation, University of California, San Francisco, California;"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Armin","family":"Hinterwirth","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Francis I. Proctor Foundation, University of California, San Francisco, California;"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Thuy","family":"Doan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Francis I. Proctor Foundation, University of California, San Francisco, California;"},{"name":"Department of Ophthalmology, University of California, San Francisco, California"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gerami D.","family":"Seitzman","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Francis I. Proctor Foundation, University of California, San Francisco, California;"},{"name":"Department of Ophthalmology, University of California, San Francisco, California"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"2795","reference":[{"key":"b1","series-title":"Bull World Health Organ","first-page":"854","article-title":"Infectious corneal ulceration: A proposal for neglected tropical disease status","volume":"97","author":"Ung","year":"2019"},{"key":"b2","series-title":"Bull World Health Organ","first-page":"214","article-title":"Corneal blindness: A global perspective","volume":"79","author":"Whitcher","year":"2001"},{"key":"b3","series-title":"Bull World Health Organ","first-page":"844","article-title":"Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002","volume":"82","author":"Resnikoff","year":"2004"},{"key":"b4","series-title":"Community Eye Health","first-page":"46","article-title":"How to create a balanced eye team: An example from 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MORDOR I: A community-randomized trial of mass azithromycin distribution","volume":"25","author":"Doan","year":"2019"},{"key":"b11","series-title":"J Clin Virol","first-page":"105300","article-title":"Outpatient human coronavirus associated conjunctivitis in India","volume":"157","author":"Prajna","year":"2022"},{"key":"b12","series-title":"Ophthalmology","first-page":"1724","article-title":"Metagenomic deep sequencing for the diagnosis of corneal and external disease infections","volume":"126","author":"Seitzman","year":"2019"},{"key":"b13","series-title":"Lancet Infect Dis","first-page":"e49","article-title":"The global incidence and diagnosis of fungal keratitis","volume":"21","author":"Brown","year":"2021"},{"key":"b14","series-title":"Open Ophthalmol J","first-page":"100","article-title":"The spectrum of microbial keratitis: An updated review","volume":"13","author":"Bartimote","year":"2019"},{"key":"b15","series-title":"Clin Exp Ophthalmol","first-page":"260","article-title":"Aureobasidium pullulans keratitis","volume":"34","author":"Panda","year":"2006"},{"key":"b16","series-title":"Ophthalmic Surg Lasers Imaging","first-page":"1","article-title":"Aureobasidium pullulans keratitis following automated lamellar therapeutic keratoplasty","volume":"9","author":"Chawla","year":"2010"},{"key":"b17","series-title":"BMC Infect Dis","first-page":"82","article-title":"Identification and molecular characterization of Subramaniula asteroides causing human fungal keratitis: A case report","volume":"21","author":"Cultrera","year":"2021"},{"key":"b18","series-title":"Clin Microbiol Rev","first-page":"213","article-title":"Gardnerella vaginalis: Characteristics, clinical considerations, and controversies","volume":"5","author":"Catlin","year":"1992"},{"key":"b19","series-title":"PLoS One","first-page":"e0134286","article-title":"Associated risk factors of STIs and multiple sexual relationships among youths in 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