A Florida firefighter lost sight in one eye after using artificial tears infected with bacteria that reportedly killed three people and infected nearly 70 others.
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“The redness came, then the irritation, it was very stinging and it was abnormal,” Fire Chief Adam Di Sarro told CBS News. It kept getting worse to the point where after a few hours I couldn’t even see.”
Aside from the fact that the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa found in the products is resistant to antibiotics, doctors feared the firefighter would lose his eye.
The latter has turned to the courts to sue the EzriCare company for negligence and hopes the surgery will allow him to regain his sight to return to work.
But others were less fortunate: Three patients would have died related to the bacteria, eight others would have lost their sight entirely, and four had to resort to surgery to have their eyes removed, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) .
The agency is currently investigating a nationwide outbreak of the bacterium in EzriCare and Delsam Pharma artificial tears that is believed to have infected 68 people in 16 states.
Those products have been recalled since February, according to the New York Post last month.