Kocuria rhizophila dacryocystitis: Report of a rare causative organism in a common clinical condition

Abstract

A 3-year-old female child presented to us with complaints of watering in the left eye since birth, along with swelling near the medial canthus of the left eye for 1 week. External examination revealed a burst lacrimal sac abscess. The child underwent left eye probing with intubation. Cultures of the lacrimal sac contents revealed Kocuria rhizophila, a Gram-positive bacterium, as the primary pathogen. K. rhizophila was identified based on phenotypic characteristics and the VITEK-2 system. On follow-up visit, she had a recurrence of nasolacrimal duct obstruction with discharge from the left eye and subsequently underwent dacryocystorhinostomy. This study reports the first case K. rhizophila dacryocystitis, its clinicomicrobiological correlation, and management.

Keywords

• dacryocystitis
• dacryocystorhinostomy
• kocuria rhizophila
• probing