Bacterial contamination of corneal donor tissue.

We studied bacterial contamination of corneal donor material following processing by two techniques prior to immersion in McCarey-Kaufman medium. If the whole eye was immersed in Neosporin, 24.5% of cultures were positive. If eyes were only rinsed with Neosporin, 47.5% of cultures were positive. No eyes receiving this tissue developed infections. Cultures were much more likely to be positive if the donors had been on a respirator prior to death.