Panophthalmitis due to Bacillus cereus.

A rapidly progressing panophthalmitis due to Bacillus cereus developed in three patients. Infection was associated with intravenous drug abuse in two patients and was traced to contaminated injection paraphernalia in one. In the third patient, infection was associated with a foreign-body injury to the eye. Anterior chamber aspiration revealed the organism on Gram's stain in one case and isolation of the bacteria in all three. Despite intravenous and intraocular antibiotic therapy, the infection progressed rapidly and resulted in enucleation in all cases. Bacillus cereus isolates were sensitive to clindamycin hydrochloride hydrate and aminoglycosides but resistant to penicillins and cephalosporins.