Phara KhauvPaul TurnerChanny SoengSona SoengCatrin E. MooreRachel BousfieldNicole StoesserKate EmaryDuy Pham ThanhStephen BakerVu Thi Ty HangH. Rogier Van DoornNicholas P.J. DayChristopher M. ParryAngkor Hospital for ChildrenMahidol UniversityNuffield Department of Clinical MedicineUCLLondon School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine2018-11-092018-11-092014-11-05BMC Research Notes. Vol.7, No.1 (2014)175605002-s2.0-84920842313https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/20.500.14594/33208© 2014 Khauv et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. Background: Ophthalmic infections cause significant morbidity in Cambodian children but aetiologic data are scarce. We investigated the causes of acute eye infections in 54 children presenting to the ophthalmology clinic at Angkor Hospital for Children, Siem Reap between March and October 2012. Findings: The median age at presentation was 3.6 years (range 6 days - 16.0 years). Forty two patients (77.8%) were classified as having an external eye infection, ten (18.5%) as ophthalmia neonatorum, and two (3.7%) as intra-ocular infection. Organisms were identified in all ophthalmia neonatorum patients and 85.7% of patients with an external eye infection. Pathogens were not detected in either of the intra-ocular infection patients. Most commonly isolated bacteria were Staphylococcus aureus (23 isolates), coagulase-negative staphylococci (13), coliforms (7), Haemophilus influenzae/parainfluenzae (6), Streptococcus pneumoniae (4), and Neisseria gonorrhoeae (2). Chlamydia trachomatis DNA was detected in 60% of swabs taken from ophthalmia neonatorum cases. Conclusions: This small study demonstrates the wide range of pathogens associated with common eye infections in Cambodian children. The inclusion of molecular assays improved the spectrum of detectable pathogens, most notably in neonates.Mahidol UniversityBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular BiologyArticleSCOPUS10.1186/1756-0500-7-784