A comparative study of the conjuctival bacterial normal flora in Paediatric and Geriatric subjects

The conjunctival bacterial normal flora of twenty healthy paediatric and twenty healthy geriatric subjects were studied. Conjunctival swabs were collected from paediatric subjects aged 2months to 6years, and geriatric subjects aged 60years andabove.The specimenswere inoculated untoblood agar and incubated for 24-48 hour as the case may be. They were subsequently subjected to physical examinations using +20.00D magnifying lens; and biochemical tests using gram staining and coagulase test. Thirteen (32.5%) of the 40 samples yielded growth (3 paediatric and 10 geriatiric samples). The total number of colonies was 37 in paediatric and 217 in geariatric samples. Staphylococcus epidermidis was the most predominant bacterial organism. The X test showed significant (P<0.05) difference in the bacterial normal flora of paediatric and geriatric samples, both in presence of isolates and the number of colonies. The absence ofgrowth inmajorityof the samples is because of the sterile nature of the normal conjunctiva. The effect of age onthe conjunctival bacterial normal flora is further highlighted.