Polymerase chain reaction-guided diagnosis of infective keratitis - a hospital-based study.

Purpose: To compare polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to microbial culture and smear for detection and identification of bacterial and fungal pathogens in suspected microbial keratitis.

Materials And Methods: Corneal scrapings from 88 patients with suspected infectious keratitis were subjected to routine bacterial culture and sensitivity, Gram's stain, fungal culture; potassium hydroxide (KOH) wet mount, and PCR. PCR was performed with primer pairs targeted to the 16S and 18S r RNA gene.