Data for: “Epidemiology of Microbial Keratitis in Uganda: A 7-year update” – Data Codebook

Persistent identifier

10.17037/DATA.00004852

Description

This dataset contains information collected from 369 patients enrolled in the Epidemiology study who exhibited signs of microbial keratitis when receiving treatment at three eye units in Uganda between November 2023 and June 2025. It includes variables detailing participant demographics, clinical history, clinical presentation, and laboratory diagnoses based on corneal sample analysis.

Data access method

The dataset is managed by the study team at the Mbarara University of Science and Technology and is not stored in the LSHTM repository. To request access, researchers should complete the application form, outlining their proposed research. The application will be reviewed by Mbarara’s data access committee. If approved, applicants will be required to sign a data transfer agreement prior to being provided with data.

Codebook

The dataset contains the following variables.

Variable Name	Variable Label	Answer Label	Answer Code	Variable Type
study_no	Participation number	Open ended		String
id	Study no	Open ended		String
hospital	Hospital at which participant was recruited			Numeric
		Mbarara	1
		Mengo	2
		Masaka	3
age	Participant age	Open ended		Numeric
sex	Participant gender			String
		Female	Female
		Male	Male
district	District of residence in Uganda	Open ended		String
distance	Distance from the eye hospital	Open ended		Numeric
duration	Duration of eye illness symptoms (number of days)	Open ended		Numeric
re_va	Right eye visual acuity using Snellen chart	Open ended		String
le_va	Left eye visual acuity using Snellen chart	Open ended		String
va_affected	Visual acuity in the affected eye	Open ended		String
va_normal	Visual acuity in the non-affected eye	Open ended		String
eye_affected	which eye was affected?			String
		Left eye	Left eye
		Right eye	Right eye
		Both	Both
used_tem	History of use of traditional medicine			String
		No	No
		Yes	Yes
		Not recorded	.
hx_trauma	History of trauma			String
		No	No
		Yes	Yes
		Not recorded	.
clinical_dx	Clinical diagnosis			String
		Bacterial	Bacterial
		Fungal	Fungal
		Viral	Viral
		Acanthamoeba	Acanthamoeba
		Not sure	Not sure
		Other (specify)	Other (specify)
gram_done	Was gram test done for participant?			String
		No	No
		Yes	Yes
		Not recorded	.
gram_results	Gram results for all micro-organisms			String
		Fungal Hyphae	Fungal Hyphae
		Gram-negative bacilli	Gram-negative bacilli
		Gram-positive cocci	Gram-positive cocci
		Yeast cells	Yeast cells
		Nothing significant seen	Nothing significant seen
koh_done	KOH results for fungus			String
		No	No
		Yes	Yes
		Not recorded	.
koh_results	Potassium Hydroxide (KOH) results for fungus			String
		Nothing significant seen	Nothing significant seen
		Fungal hyphae	Fungal hyphae
		Not done	Not done
cal_koh_done	Was Calcofluor tes with Potassium Hydroxide test done?			String
		No	No
		Yes	Yes
		Not recorded	.
cal_koh_results	Calcofluor with Potassium Hydroxide results for fungus			String
		Fungal hyphae	Fungal hyphae
		Nothing significant seen	Nothing significant seen
		Not done	Not done
phone_microscopy_done	Was smart-phone microscopy done?			String
		No	No
		Yes	Yes
		Not recorded	.
phone_microscopy_results	Microscopy results from smart-phone based microscopy			String
		Fungal Hyphae	Fungal Hyphae
		Nothing significant seen	Nothing significant seen
		Not recorded	.
lamp_done	Was lamp test done?			String
		No	No
		Yes	Yes
		Not recorded	.
lamp_results	LAMP results for fungus			String
		Negative for fungus	Negative for fungus
		Positive for fungus	Positive for fungus
		Not done	Not done
		Not recorded	.
pcr_done	Was Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test for fungus done			String
		No	No
		Yes	Yes
		Not recorded	.
pcr_results	PCR results for fungus			String
		Positive	Positive
		Negative	Negative
		Not done	Not done
		Not recorded	.
confocal_done	Was in vivo confocal microscopy done?			String
		No	No
		Yes	Yes
		Not recorded	.
confocal_results	Results from in vivo confocal microscopy done for fungus			String
		Fungus	Fungus
		Fungal hyphae	Fungal hyphae
		No fungal hyphae	No fungal hyphae
		Not done	Not done
		Inconclusive	Inconclusive
		Nothing significant seen	Nothing significant seen
		Not recorded	.
ba_done	Was sample for culture using Blood Agar collected?			String
		No	No
		Yes	Yes
		Not recorded	.
ba_results	Results of Blood Agar (BA) culture			String
		Fungal	Fungal
		Mixed (bacterial+fungal)	Mixed (bacterial+fungal)
		No growth	No growth
		Not done	Not done
specfic_ba	What specific micro-organism grew on Blood agar?	Open ended		String
sda_done	Was sample for culture using Sabourand Dextrose Agar collected?			String
		No	No
		Yes	Yes
		Not recorded	.
sda_results	Results of SDA culture			String
		Fungal	Fungal
		Not done	Not done
		No growth	No growth
		Not recorded	.
specific_sda	What specific microorganism grew on Sabourand Dextrose agar?			String
		Colletotrichum	Colletotrichum
		curvularia	curvularia
		fusarium	fusarium
		Not recorded	.
pda_done	Potato dextrose agar collected?			String
		No	No
		Yes	Yes
		Not recorded	.
pda_results	Results of potato dextrose agar culture			String
		Fungal	Fungal
		Not done	Not done
		No growth	No growth
		Not recorded	.
specific_pda	Anything specfic grown (3)	Open ended		String
ca_done	Chocolate agar collected?			String
		No	No
		Yes	Yes
		Not recorded	.
ca_results	Results of chocolate agar culture			String
		Not done	Not done
		No growth	No growth
		Bacterial	Bacterial
		Fungal	Fungal
		Mixed (bacterial + fungal)	Mixed (bacterial + fungal)
		Not recorded	.
specific_ca	What specific micro-organism grew on Potato Dextrose agar?	Open ended		String
bhi_done	Was sample for culture using Brain Heart Infusion Agar collected?			String
		No	No
		Yes	Yes
		Not recorded	.
bhi_results	Results of Brain Heart Infusion culture			String
		Not done	Not done
		No growth	No growth
		Bacterial	Bacterial
		Fungal	Fungal
		Mixed (bacterial + fungal)	Mixed (bacterial + fungal)
		Not recorded	.
specific_bhi	Anything specfic grown (4)	Open ended		String