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