A doctor (rear) and lab technician (front) at the Center for Disease Control examining test tubes containing Fusarium-isolate subcultures, which had been received from an outbreak in patients with ocular keratitis. The mould was isolated using Potato Dextrose Agar, which had been incubated at 26oC for 5 - 7 days. This isolate was identified as a mould from the Fusarium oxysporum species complex. While it is not unusual for the Fusarium fungal organism to cause keratitis, it was the number of affected individuals, which had increased dramatically, predominantly in persons wearing contact lenses, that had warranted this epidemiologic study. The laboratory received cultures which came from two sources: Fusarium species isolated from the eye of patients with fungal keratitis, and cultures from contact lenses, cases and/or lens solution. The mould seen in the Petri dish grew from a pair of contact lenses (still visible on the plate) that were placed directly onto the agar surface.