National Clinical Research Center for Ocular Diseases, Eye Hospital, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, 325027, China.
BMC Ophthalmol. 2024 Sep 3;24(1):392. doi: 10.1186/s12886-024-03664-7.
This study aimed to verify that aerosolization ocular surface microorganisms (AOSMs) accumulated during non-contact tonometry (NCT) measurements.
A total of 508 participants (740 eyes) were enrolled in the study. In Experiment 1, before NCT was performed on each eye, the air was disinfected, and environment air control samples were collected via Air ideal 3P (Bio Merieux). During NCT measurements, microbial aerosol samples were collected once from each eye. In Experiment 2, we collected initial blank control samples and then repeated Experiment 1. Finally, in Experiment 3, after the background microbial aerosol investigation, we cumulatively sampled AOSMs from each 10 participants then culture once, without any interventions to interrupt the accumulation. The collected samples were incubated and identified using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS).
Pathogenic Aerococcus viridans and other microorganisms from human eyes can spread and accumulate in the air during NCT measurements. The species and quantity of AOSMs produced by NCT measurements can demonstrate an accumulation effect.
AOSMs generated during NCT measurements are highly likely to spread and accumulate in the air, thereby may increase the risk of exposure to and transmission of bio-aerosols.
本研究旨在验证非接触眼压测量（NCT）过程中是否会积聚眼表微生物气溶胶（AOSM）。
本研究共纳入 508 名参与者（740 只眼）。在实验 1 中，在对每只眼进行 NCT 之前，对空气进行消毒，并通过 Air ideal 3P（Bio Merieux）采集环境空气对照样本。在 NCT 测量过程中，从每只眼采集一次微生物气溶胶样本。在实验 2 中，我们采集初始空白对照样本，然后重复实验 1。最后，在实验 3 中，在背景微生物气溶胶调查后，我们从每位 10 名参与者中累积采集 AOSM，然后进行一次培养，不进行任何干预以中断其积聚。收集的样本使用基质辅助激光解吸/电离飞行时间质谱（MALDI-TOF-MS）进行孵育和鉴定。
来自人眼的致病性嗜水气单胞菌和其他微生物可以在 NCT 测量过程中传播并在空气中积聚。NCT 测量产生的 AOSM 的种类和数量可以表现出累积效应。
NCT 测量过程中产生的 AOSM 很可能在空气中传播和积聚，从而增加生物气溶胶暴露和传播的风险。
