A Triangle Model: Environmental Changes Affect Biofilms that Affect Larval Settlement

Abstract

Cataracts are the most common cause of blindness in the world and cataract surgery is one of the most common surgical procedures performed. During surgery the opacified crystalline lens is removed and replaced with a lens implant. Bacterial infection of the internal eye (bacterial endophthalmitis) following cataract surgery appears to have increased since the 1990s. The infection is the result of inoculation of the patient ’ s bacterial flora into the eye during surgery. Under normal circumstances a small inoculum of bacteria can be cleared from the eye without clinical infection. In this chapter, we discuss many factors that can predispose a patient to developing a clinical endophthalmitis, including those related to the lens implant and host response. There is evidence to suggest that the intraocular lens may provide a niche where bacteria are protected from the host mechanisms that normally clear bacteria from the eye.