Virulence genes involved in adhesion (ebh, clfA, clfB, cna, sdrD, sdrE), immune evasion (chp, esaD, esaE, esxB, esxC, esxD), and serine protease enzymes (splA, splD, splE, splF) were more commonly observed in infectious strains (MK + conjunctivitis) than niCIE strains (p = 0.004). Here, PPP3CA is linked to conjunctivitis.