Corneal ulceration due to Shigella flexneri.

Shigella keratitis with ulceration is a rare occurrence with only four previous reports in the literature. Corneal ulceration appears to be characteristically superficial with a predilection for the inferior cornea. In the case reported here, resolution of ulceration occurred with the use of gentamicin and chloramphenicol, following a poor response to sulfacetamide. Experimental evidence strongly suggests that the course of infection is usually self-limited but that corneal scarring is a common sequelae. In the majority of the clinical cases reported to date, corneal ulceration has responded to appropriate antimicrobials with resolution, but has left residual opacification. To the extent that all of the cases were in young children, assessment of the degree of visual loss has been difficult to ascertain.