الملخص الإنجليزي
aBstract: Objectives: This study aimed to determine the disinfecting potential of some contact lens solutions
used by some university students in Oman. Methods: This work was carried out from January to June 2010 in the
Department of Microbiology & Immunology, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University,
Oman. Fifty disinfecting solutions, in which contact lenses were disinfected according to the manufacturers'
instructions, were collected from the students and plated on various microbiological culture media. Bacterial
isolates were identified by API-20E, API-20NE and Phoenix automated systems while fungi were identified by
their cultural characteristics and biochemistry. Results: From 98 isolates, Pseudomonas aeruginosa was 23.5%;
Penicillium, 13%; Candida species, 9.2%; coagulase negative staphylococci, 9.2%; Serratia marcescens, 6.1%;
Bacillus, 5.1%; Aspergillus flavus, 5.1%; Serratia liquefaciens, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Enterobacter cloacae and
Aspergillus niger, 4.1% each; Chryseomonas luteola and Chryseomonas indologenes, 3.1% each; Stenotrophomonas
maltophilia, Serratia odorifera, 2.0% each; Enterobacter aerogenes and Klebsiella pneumoniae, 1% each. Most
isolates (65%) came from polyhexanide containing solutions. Conclusion: Contact lens disinfecting solutions with
the same formulations, but manufactured by different companies, possessed different disinfecting potentials.
