Checks and balances: the ocular response to infection.

Bacterial corneal infections threaten vision. With the widespread use of contact lenses and the increasing number of vision-correction (refractive) surgeries, the number of bacterial corneal infection (keratitis) cases has dramatically increased over the past decade. These infections are often blinding, as bacteria multiply in the corneal epithelium and stroma, provoking inflammatory cell migration into the cornea, and ultimately damage or destruction of corneal tissue.