Chronic Postoperative Rhodotorula Endophthalmitis

Abstract

Rhodotorula is a ubiquitous, airborne, asporogenous yeast that has been cultured from food, air, soil, water, gastrointestinal tracts, and skin. This normally nonpathogenic organism has produced occasional infections in patients with serious underlying illnesses.¹ It is a rare saprophyte of the conjunctiva, cultured, in one study, from only one of 304 healthy eyes, and isolated from three eyes of 313 patients with chronic external infections.² We report a case of endophthalmitis due to Rhodotorula. Report of a Case. —A 71-year-old-white woman with atrophic age-related macular degeneration was referred to us 4 months after cataract surgery with chronic inflammation in the left eye. She developed epiphora, photophobia, and erythema 2 months after uncomplicated surgery in the left eye. She was treated with topical steroids, and her condition initially improved. However, the symptoms recurred after a few weeks. Several relapses had been treated with increasing topical steroid dosages. Four months