Opportunistic infections of the retina in patients with aquaporin-4 antibody disease.

Importance: Patients with neuromyelitis optica who have aquaporin-4 antibodies are being identified and receiving immunosuppressant treatment earlier and more aggressively as a result of increasing awareness of the importance of preventing relapses responsible for the high morbidity and mortality associated with the disease. To our knowledge, opportunistic retinal infection in patients with aquaporin-4 antibodies who are receiving immunosuppressants has not been reported to date.

Observations: We describe 2 patients with aquaporin-4 antibodies who were receiving conventional doses of first-line immunosuppressive therapy.

Reversible blindness: severe pneumococcal induced uveitis following septicaemia.

This study illustrates the case of a middle-aged woman who presented with sepsis and purpura fulminans, found to be due to Streptococcus pneumoniae infection. She later developed blindness from a dramatic ocular inflammatory response provoked by pneumococcal antigens.