Medical professionals are investigating the outbreak of antibiotic-resistant microbes found in certain bottles of lubricating eye drops or artificial tears.
A total of 68 infections have been reported, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention As of March 14Three died, eight lost their sight, and four had their eyes surgically removed. At the request of the Food and Drug Administration, pharmaceutical company Global Pharma Healthcare has initiated a recall of artificial tears and eye ointments marketed by New Jersey and New York-based EzriCare and Delsam Pharma, but the products have been sold in India. manufactured.
Government agencies say these products were contaminated with rare strains during manufacturing Pseudomonas aeruginosa It is resistant to common, powerful antibiotics known as carbapenems.
“Because of the recent recalls, only users of the specific brands being recalled should be concerned,” says Christopher Starr, an ophthalmologist at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City and a clinical spokesperson for the American Academy of Ophthalmology. “Before putting eye drops in, everyone should double-check the label on the bottle to make sure it is not a recalled product. There is no problem with
Scientific American We spoke with Christina Prescott, Director of Cornea Services and Vice Chair of Education for NYU Langone Health’s Division of Ophthalmology, about the infection.
[An edited transcript of the interview follows.]
What stands out to you about this outbreak?
It’s pretty shocking, especially since our patients don’t usually die from something that we would normally consider quite benign. I think that there.
Many eye infections are seen. This is what we see all the time with contaminated products, i.e. products that are not properly manufactured. Contact lens solutions have had problems in the past. Hopefully this will make at least some people more aware of the potential dangers of something that looks fairly harmless, such as artificial tears, and pay more attention to current practices. In the long run, people paying more attention and adopting better habits will lead to fewer eye infections.
How common are these eye infections?
It’s incredibly rare, especially if the person is dead. Seizures are frequent. Every few years it seems that some kind of contaminated solution occurs. But this is the first time, at least in the United States, that we’ve seen cases of actual patient deaths from contaminated eye drops. Unfortunately, we have seen many cases of blindness, but death is new.
How can we protect people from such infections?
These eye drops were called preservative-free. Usually preservative-free eye drops only dispense in a single vial that looks like a small ampoule. Because once you open it, you’re exposed to all sorts of germs, and the teardrop itself is a pretty good environment for things. growing up. If something gets in there, normally if it is a preservative-free product, it will be thrown away after use. [that contamination] doesn’t matter.
drop here [in the latest cases]—they took a regular bottle with absolutely no safety mechanism to prevent anything from getting into that bottle. must be
These eye drops themselves were a problem, but often patients don’t have the best sterilization techniques.You don’t want to touch them. [the bottle’s tip] in your hands. I don’t want to touch my skin. You don’t want to touch your eyelashes because any bacteria that might get in there will grow on the eye drops bottle and you could get an even worse infection. It goes back to production. However, eye drops can acquire contaminants from other external sources, which poses an important safety point.
What are the signs of infection and what should I do if I have these symptoms?
Pseudomonas It is a very fast growing organism. [At the beginning, an infected eye will be] It becomes a little red and a little itchy. Contact lens wearers sometimes think there is something on their contact lenses. It takes about a day or two, and actually quite rapidly, your vision becomes blurry and your eyes become red and painful. A yellowish dot may be visible. [Infections] It can thin the cornea within a few days as the infection takes over essentially healthy tissue.
Make an appointment with your ophthalmologist as soon as possible. Eye infections are very common and the sooner they are detected and treated, the better.
how to treat Pseudomonas aeruginosa work normally?
It is fairly common and one of the more aggressive infections. They are usually quite sensitive to various antibiotics. The good thing is that not only does it get worse very quickly, but it usually responds to treatment very quickly, and usually within a day or two after starting the appropriate treatment, the patient gets better. will notice.
