Comarison of Acridine Orange and Gram Stains in the Diagnosis of Infectious Keratitis.

Kim, Han Sang; Hahn, Tae Won; Kim, Jae Ho

Original Article

Journal of the Korean Ophthalmological Society 1997;38(3):361-367.
Published online March 1, 1997.

Comarison of Acridine Orange and Gram Stains in the Diagnosis of Infectious Keratitis.

Han Sang Kim, Tae Won Hahn, Jae Ho Kim

Department of Ophthalmology Kangnam St. Mary's Hospital School of Medicine Catholic University of Korea Seoul, Korea.

감염성 각막염의 진단에 있어 그람 염색과 아크리딘 오렌지 염색법의 유용성 비교

김한상(Han Sang Kim),한태원(Tae Won Hahn),김재호(Jae Ho Kim)

Abstract

We assessed the comparatice sensitivity and specificity of acridine orange and Gram stains of corneal scrapings from 29 cases of presumed infectious keratitis. The corneal scrapings were placed on two clear glass slides and allowed to air dry. The slides were fixed in 95% methanol for 2 minutes and each slide was stained by Gram and acridine orange stains respectively. Culture was done with another corneal scraping. Cultures were positive in 19 of 29 cases(66%). Among them 14 cases (74%) were positive in Gram stain and 18 cases (95%) were positive in acridine orange stain. So the sensitivity of acridine orange was greater than that of Gram stain. In the specificity, Gram stain (80%) was better than acridine orange stain(50%). This study demonstrates acridine orange stain as well as gram stain is useful as a simple, rapid screening test for the diagnois of suspected infectious keratitis.

Key Words: Acridine orange stain;Gram Stain;Infectious Keratitis