[Metastatic Serratia marcescens endophthalmitis]

Abstract

A case of metastatic Serratia marcescens (SM) endophthalmitis is described in a 57-year-old diabetic woman, after amputation of her leg above the knee because of peripheral vascular disease. SM cultured from the infected surgical stump was the source of septic emboli to her right eye and lungs, causing endophthalmitis and pneumonia. The ocular infection did not respond to appropriate antibiotic therapy and evisceration was required. SM infection can cause endophthalmitis refractory to antibiotics, and it should be aggressively treated when SM is cultured from any infected site.