OBJECTIVE: The purposes of this study were to describe 2 contact lens-associated
Beauveria keratitis cases and to compare the isolates of 3 contact lens-associated
Beauveria keratitis cases with
Beauveria-based biopesticides using random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD).
METHODS: A 55-year-old diabetic woman from New Mexico and a 31-year-old healthy woman from southern Wisconsin developed soft contact lens-related corneal ulcers unresponsive to topical moxifloxacin and prednisolone acetate drops. Their corneal cultures grew B. bassiana. These isolates, an isolate from a third soft contact lens-related
Beauveria keratitis
case, and
Beauveria-based biopesticides sold in the United States were analyzed using morphological features, DNA sequencing, and RAPD. A PubMed, Cochrane Library, OVID, UpToDate, and Google search using the term \"Beauveria\" found only 9 reported
Beauveria keratitis infections.
RESULTS: Patient 1 responded to topical natamycin, ketoconazole, and 200 mg oral ketoconazole twice daily before developing a secondary bacterial infection requiring penetrating keratoplasty. After subsequent cataract surgery, the best-corrected visual acuity was 20/20. Patient 2 was treated with topical natamycin, topical amphotericin, and 200 mg oral voriconazole twice daily for 1 month with residual scarring and a best-corrected visual acuity of 20/25. RAPD showed that all isolates were unrelated.
CONCLUSIONS: Although earlier reported Beauveria keratitis cases occurred after corneal injury in patients who did not wear contact lenses, 3 recent patients wore soft contact lenses and denied trauma, mirroring a changing trend in microbial keratitis. RAPD analysis showed that the
Beauveria isolates were unrelated to one another and to
Beauveria-based biopesticides. In Patient 2, oral voriconazole worked well.