Corneal abscess due to Moraxella nonliquefaciens.

Abstract

A 71-year-old man was seen due to red eye along with loss of vision in the right eye. The patient only referred to a whitish spot on the corneal surface over 3months probably due to a strange body, but no antimicrobial treatment was started at this stage. Physical examination revealed a central corneal infiltrate in almost all the corneal thickness, an overlying epithelial defect, and a moderate corneal oedema without hypopyon. Several corneal biopsies were taken, and they were directly inoculated to aerobic blood agar (Columbia Agar 5% Sheepblood, Becton Dickinson), chocolate agar (Choco Agar, Becton Dickinson), Sabouraud agar (Sabouraud Glucose Agar, Becton Dickinson) and thioglycolate broth (Fluid Thioglycollate Medium, Becton Dickinson). All media were incubated at 37 C, except Sabouraud agar, which was incubated at 30 C. A corneal biopsy for study of viruses was also taken, being negative for adenovirus, herpes simplex (1 and 2) and enterovirus (by polymerase chain reaction). Gram staining of the fluid identified scarce Gramnegative rods. On the first day of incubation the growth of abundant colonies of a non-haemolytic and catalaseand oxidase-positive microorganism was reported in pure culture. No other microorganisms were isolated on the primary plates. A mass spectrometry method (Biotyper, Bruker) was employed to identify the strain as Moraxella nonliquefaciens (log score 2.08). The culture in Sabouraud agar was negative after 21 days of incubation.