Aim: To compare the status of bacteria in the conjunctival sac from the elder Qiang minority and Han people with dry eyes in Sichuan, China.
Methods: Total of 54 elder Qiang people with dry eyes (108 eyes) were examined by cluster sampling. In the similar habitation region of Han people, 80 (160 dry eyes) Han people were analyzed as the control group. The bacteria was separated from the inferior palpebral conjunctiva, then inoculated on blood plate for 48 hours and identified.
Results: Totally 24 strains of bacteria were cultured in either Qiang minority or Han c populations with 3 strains of them existed in both ethnic groups. The commonest bacteria in conjunctival sac in two ethnic groups were non-pathogenic bacterium. The composition of Corynebacterium in Han people (54.1%) was significantly higher than that in Qiang minority (27.4%) (χ(2)=11.6721, P=0.0006). The percentage of Sphingomonas Paucimobilis in Qiang people was higher than that in Han people (χ(2)=18.6442, P=0.0000). However, there was no significant difference between Qiang minority and Han people either in bacterial positive rate in conjunctival sac, or the composition of bacteria species and strains, or the composition of staphylococcus epidemids between two ethnic populations.
Conclusion: There was no significant difference of bacterial positive rate in conjunctival sac from the elder of Qiang minority and Han people with dry eye, but the species of bacteria were different.
Keywords: bacteria; conjunctival sac; dry eye.