Panophthalmitis after a Blood Transfusion

A CONSIDERABLE number of cases of panophthalmitis attributed to the Bacillus subtilis have now been recorded (Poplawska, 1891; R6mer, 1901; Frangois, 1934; Greenspon, 1918; Motolese, 1936; Reese and Khorazo, 1943). In these cases the organism had an exogenous origin and entered the eye through a perforating wound or post-operatively. Davenport and Smith (1952) suggest that many cases of panophthalmitis said to be due to B. subtilis may in fact be due to B. cereus; they describe a case considered to be due to this organism entering the eye with an intra-ocular foreign body. No case has been described of panophthalmitis due to an organism of the B. subtilis group occurring in an uninjured eye or in one that had not been operated on. It is for this reason that the following case is reported of endogenous panophthalmitis due to an organism of the Bacillus subtilis group (B. cereus) subsequent to a blood transfusion. The expression "Bacillus subtilis group" is here used as a convenient method of referring to species of genus Bacillus but excluding B. anthracis and B. anthracoides