BARA HAMID HADI
Abstract
Graves Disease (GD) is an autoimmune thyroid disease which is also associated with GravesÂ’ ophthalmopathy (GO). The etiology (of GD and GO may be multifactorial yet the immune response play a central role. GD patient are also more susceptible to conjunctivitis of all types and mostly bacterial conjunctivitis. This study aimed to determine the role of GravesÂ’ disease as a cause of thyrotoxicosis , also to investigate the bacterial profile of the conjunctivitis in those patient and to estimate the level of IL-17 in serum of patients with GD. This study included 75 patients with thyrotoxicosis, of them 60 patients with GravesÂ’ disease of both sex and include the age from 20-70 years old. (Bacteria isolates were identified by standard laboratory technique. Serum level of IL-17 was measured in those patients and control group by using ELIZA test.). The results revealed that out of 75 patients with thyrotoxicosis only 60 patients were with GravesÂ’ disease (80%) and out of 60 patients with GravesÂ’ disease 45 patients (75%) were with bacterial conjunctivitis and S. aureus was the bacteria with highest percentage (48.9%), also the results showed that female was affected more than male (70%) and the age between 30-40 years was the most affected age group. Furthermore, the results showed high level of IL-17 among those patients with GravesÂ’ disease GD with a mean value (2680.45) compared to control group (1483.85). GravesÂ’ disease is more common in female than male with increased IL-17 level and increase susceptibility to bacterial conjunctivitis specifically caused by S. aureus.