A 15-year-old female presents with a history of several days of pain in her right eye associated with increased sensitivity to light, blurred vision and a sensation of something in her eye. On physical examination, she is afebrile and has conjunctivitis and excessive lacrimation from her involved eye. She has worn soft contact lenses for three years.
A culture of a corneal scraping of the right eye is shown in the micrograph at right.
The most likely cause of this patient’s eye infection is:
Photo courtesy of Anne Morrison, MT (ASCP)
A culture of a corneal scraping was done on the right eye of a teen with pain, conjunctivitis, blurred vision and excessive lacrimation. To learn what caused the infection, read the accompanying article.
Answer: d) Acanthamoeba species
Acanthamoeba are free-living ameba that exist as infectious trophozoites and cysts (shown in the photograph) and are found in the environment, including...
