An experimental model of candida endophthalmitis.

With the more widespread use of hyperalimentation, systemic steroids and broad spectrum antibiotics, particularly in immunologically suppressed patients, Candida endophthalmitis is becoming more common. The drugs that are used to treat it are very toxic; treatment should be stopped as soon as possible. We wished to know if the clinical appearance of a lesion could be related to the number of organisms in it. We injected 16 rabbits intravenously with a suspension of Candida Albicans and produced typical ocular lesions in all of them. The fundi were observed by indirect ophthamoscopy and periodically groups of rabbits were killed and quantitative cultures of their eyes were made. Our results show that this experimental model gives reproducible results. We found that when the lesions are beginning to regress, culture shows either no or very little growth. If, in the human, the ophthalmoscopic appearance of a lesion is similarly related, it could be a guide in deciding the need to continue treatment.