title: A pseudoepidemic of postoperative scleritis due to misdiagnosis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe a pseudoepidemic of infectious scleritis following eye surgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective cohort study with selected procedural and laboratory investigations.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty-one patients with postoperative scleritis were identified during a 2-month outbreak. Neither an infectious etiology nor a causative pre-, intra-, or postoperative exposure was found. The clinical findings, when carefully reviewed, were consistent with poor surgical-wound closure.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The art of clinical diagnosis involves the subjective interpretation of clinical history, physical findings, and laboratory results. A repeated error in the interpretation of clinical findings can simulate an outbreak of disease. Clinicians may be reluctant to concede misdiagnosis.
authors.affiliation: Hospital Infections Program, National Center for Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Public Health Service, US Department of Health and Human Services, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Burwen
authors.forename: C E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Margo
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: McNeil
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tapelband
authors.forename: R B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Jenkins
authors.forename: W R
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Jarvis
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002387:Cataract Extraction / Q000009:adverse effects*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015423:Scleritis / Q000175:diagnosis*; D013530:Surgical Wound Infection / Q000175:diagnosis*