Rickettsia retinitis cases in India: a few comments

An important cause of infectious retinitis, not well-described in Indian literature, has been analyzed in detail systematically by Kawali A. and colleagues. However, Rickettsia retinitis (RR) was diagnosed at titres of 1:160 by the Weil–Felix test (WFT). The sensitivity and specificity of WFT at this level are poor compared to the gold standard immunofluorescent antibody assay. However, we understand that financial constraints of the Indian patients limit the availability of more definite tests. In our opinion, the optical coherence tomography features of RR described by the authors may be mimicked by other causes of retinitis, such as toxoplasma retinitis or even cotton wool spots. Infectious retinitis including RR should be treated by an antimicrobial agent with or without oral steroids until larger series or randomized controlled trials prove otherwise.