Abstract
Purpose :
To characterize the changes of ocular surface flora in patients with ocular demodicosis.
Methods :
A case-control study was conducted in 40 patients of ocular demodicosis in Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center and 49 normal controls. All patients received epilation and microscopic demodex detection, and high-throughput sequencing analysis of conjunctival impression cytology specimens.
Results :
The study group has a significantly higher alpha-diversity of bacterial species (P=0.003). The beta-diversity of bacteria also changed compared with control (P=0.014). Ochrobactrum anthropi reduced most obviously in study group. PCA analysis revealed the relative abundance of fungi and virus also changed significantly (P<0.001). The relative abundance of Aspeigillosis flavus and Malassezia globosa increased significantly, and Human herpesvirus decreased significantly (all P<0.001) in study group.
Conclusions :
Demodex infestation is associated with change of the structure of the flora in the ocular surface.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2018 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Honolulu, Hawaii, April 29 - May 3, 2018.