Evidence Hub

Actinomyces bowdenii ulcerative keratitis in a dog

Sherman A, Daniels JB, Wilkie DA, Lutz E

Veterinary ophthalmology, 2013

Abstract

A 5-year-old spayed female diabetic mixed-breed dog underwent phacoemulsification and intraocular lens implantation to correct bilateral hypermature cataracts. Two months postsurgery, the patient presented with ulcerative keratitis and multifocal stromal abscessation OD, which was controlled, but never resolved, with topical fluoroquinolone therapy. The patient re-presented 2 months later with a new, raised, white gritty corneal opacity associated with hyperemia, chemosis, and blepharospasm OD. Cytology of the right cornea revealed filamentous bacteria, suggestive of Actinomyces spp. Actinomyces bowdenii was subsequently isolated in pure culture and identified via 16s rDNA sequencing. Actinomyces bowdenii has never before been described as a cause of ocular infection. An immunosuppressed corneal environment likely contributed to this opportunistic Actinomycosis. The infection was not controlled with fluoroquinolone therapy, and the isolate, in vitro, was resistant to three fluoroquinolones (ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, and levofloxacin), which also has not been previously reported for this species of Actinomyces. A superficial keratectomy with conjunctival graft was employed to successfully manage the infection.

How strong is the evidence?

Evidence Hub reads this as a case report, done in people. Its evidence level is 5 of 5 (Very low · case / narrative / animal / in vitro / in silico). Case reports, narrative reviews, and animal, cell or computer-model studies give the weakest evidence for human health.

How the five levels of evidence work. The level is assigned automatically from the abstract and can be wrong, so check the paper.

Read the paper

Related studies

Go deeper in Evidence Hub

Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.

Open this study Sign up free