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Infant With Green And White Discharge From Eye. Report Shows No Significant Bacterial Growth. Cause For Discharge?
My 4 weeks old daughter has green and white discharge coming out of her left eye. Swabs were taken and here are the results which I don t understand, Gram stain: Moderate polymorphism Possible occasional gram negative diplococci Occasional gram positive cocci Final report: Result of culture, No significant bacterial growth Gp gave eh drops to use for couple of days which I did and now it s back to how it was (I clean it three times a day and massage it in case it s a blocked eye duct)(she s been like that since she was at the hospital week 1) I m really stressing out. Please explain to me this report thank you!!
Wed, 6 Mar 2013
Hello and welcome to Healthcare Magic. Thanks for your query.
I understand that you are confused and stressed out about the test reports. So, let me clarify things to you.
There are two test reports here. The first is a gram stain. Here the swab material is smeared on a slide, stained using a special stain (which stains bacteria) and examined under the microscope. This has shown a few bacteria.
The second test is a culture test, where the swab material is placed in a culture medium in order to grow the bacteria, and then test the sensitivity of the cultured bacteria to various antibiotics (to see which ones will be effective on the bacteria). Now, bacteria will grow in cultures only if they are in significant numbers. Your gram stain test shows only occasional bacteria, and so, this may not be enough to grow to a significant level on culture.
Since the discharge is still persistent, I would advise you to take your daughter back to the GP for a re-examination and re-evaluation, so that further treatment can be planned.
Wish you all the best.
Regards,
Dr. Jonas Sundarakumar
Consultant Psychiatrist
I understand that you are confused and stressed out about the test reports. So, let me clarify things to you.
There are two test reports here. The first is a gram stain. Here the swab material is smeared on a slide, stained using a special stain (which stains bacteria) and examined under the microscope. This has shown a few bacteria.
The second test is a culture test, where the swab material is placed in a culture medium in order to grow the bacteria, and then test the sensitivity of the cultured bacteria to various antibiotics (to see which ones will be effective on the bacteria). Now, bacteria will grow in cultures only if they are in significant numbers. Your gram stain test shows only occasional bacteria, and so, this may not be enough to grow to a significant level on culture.
Since the discharge is still persistent, I would advise you to take your daughter back to the GP for a re-examination and re-evaluation, so that further treatment can be planned.
Wish you all the best.
Regards,
Dr. Jonas Sundarakumar
Consultant Psychiatrist
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