Outcome of P. aeruginosa endophthalmitis is poor

Researchers determined that the source of an endophthalmitis outbreak in 20 patients (20 eyes) following cataract surgery at an Indian hospital was an air conditioning system contaminated with P. aeruginosa. All strains were multidrug-resistant, but most were susceptible to polymyxin B. Despite prompt intravitreal broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment, 10 eyes underwent evisceration or phthisis. Polymerase chain reaction with enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus primers (ERIC-PCR) was an inexpensive, fast and effective DNA typing tool for epidemiologic surveillance.