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Curvularia causing mycotic corneal ulcer
*Corresponding author: Dipankar Das, Department of Ocular Pathology, Uveitis and Neuro-ophthalmology, Sri Sankaradeva Nethralaya, Guwahati, Assam, India. dr_dasdipankar@yahoo.com
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Received: ,
Accepted: ,
How to cite this article: Das D, Das DR, Raj M. Curvularia causing mycotic corneal ulcer. East Eye. 2025;1:48–49. doi: 10.25259/TEE_14_2025
Abstract
Fungal Curvularia infection of the cornea can be seen in humid and temperate areas of India. It is a pigmented fungus having very attractive conidial morphology. We report such a case in a 31-year-old man with a history of trauma who presented to the tertiary institute of northeast India. The patient was initially treated with antifungal medications, and later on, penetrating keratoplasty in that eye was performed. Corneal scraping with fluorescein stain revealed the organism, and fungal culture of the same specimen confirmed the mould Curvularia lunata.
Keywords
Cornea
Curvularia
Fluorescein
Stain
Ulcer
Hypomycete Curvularia mold can cause a fungal corneal ulcer.1,2 They are dematiaceous fungi having conidia that are curved and spindle-shaped, along with septate bodies.1 This fungal infection was seen in the right eye of a 31-year-old farmer reported to have had trauma with a paddy leaf [Figure 1a] and was treated initially with antifungal medications and required penetrating keratoplasty on a later date in that affected eye. The initial scraping in fluorescein stain showed the organism [Figure 1b], and the culture specimen seen in lactophenol cotton blue staining showed vegetative structures of the fungus Curvularia lunata [Figure 1c].
- (a) Slit lamp photograph of the right eye of the patient showing a dry-looking central corneal ulcer, 6 × 6 mm in size, (b) Corneal scraping showed Curvularia conidia and septate bodies in fluorescein stain (40x), (c) Showing conidiophores and conidia of Curvularia lunata in lactophenol cotton blue staining from the culture (100x).
Acknowledgement:
We acknowledged the contribution of Dr. Krishna Gogoi, MD, Microbiologist, and Mr. Kamal Das, Technician, Microbiology department, Sri Sankaradeva Nethralaya, Guwahati, India.
Ethical approval:
Institutional Review Board approval is not required.
Declaration of patient consent:
The authors certify that they have obtained all appropriate patient consent.
Financial support and sponsorship:
Nil.
Conflicts of interest:
There are no conflicts of interest.
Use of artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted technology for manuscript preparation:
The authors confirm that there was no use of artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted technology for assisting in the writing or editing of the manuscript and no images were manipulated using AI.
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