Donor eye contamination.

One hundred twenty-seven cultures were taken from donor eyes in McCarey Kaufman (M-K) media and 60 from anterior chamber cultures of whole eyes. From the 127 eyes, 17 positive culture were obtained, 13 of which came from anterior chamber cultures of the whole eye and 4 from the M-K media. Of the 16 eyes used for corneal transplantation, there was 1 successfully treated clinical corneal infection. It is concluded that patients with chronic debilitating disease possibly have terminal bacteremia and donor contamination. It is our current recommendations that all corneas obtained in tissue culture media be cultured by the eye bank upon arrival and that eyes prepared for M-K media and refrigerated whole eyes have an anterior chamber culture. Any positive results should then be sent to the primary surgeon as soon as the culture results are ascertained.