Conjunctival anaerobic and aerobic bacterial flora in paediatric versus adult subjects.

Although the bacterial flora of the conjunctiva in children and adults has been studied, there has been no previous comparison between these two age groups of anaerobic as well as aerobic bacteria. Conjunctival cultures from 229 eyes of 144 uninfected subjects were analysed for aerobic, microaerophilic, and anaerobic bacteria. Adults showed a greater number of species per eye than did younger subjects (1.47 versus 1.13; p less than 0.05). Anaerobic species, predominantly Propionibacterium, were obtained from 27.1% of all eyes, but from a significantly greater percentage (30.2% versus 12.8%) of adults' than children's eyes (p less than 0.04). Streptococcus spp. were cultured from 14.9% of the children's eyes as opposed to only 2.2% from adults (p less than 0.005). Understanding the differences in conjunctival flora between normal adults and children aids the interpretation of culture results and leads to properly defining and treating potential pathogens.