Four people died and 14 went blind within a month of using contaminated eye drops in the United States. The images were caused by the rare, drugresistant bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which was not identified before this year’s outbreaks in the country. More than 80 people have been infected and four others have had their eyeballs surgically removed since the outbreaks began.
One death and 13 new cases have been identified, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) weekly report released Sunday (5/21). Of these, six are patients whose sample collection for analysis was completed prior to February 2, the date on which three products from the manufacturing company Global Pharma (Chennai, India) were voluntarily recalled.
The other seven are patients who reported using the recalled brands or are in longterm care facilities where there have been other cases.
Since the outbreak began, patients have used more than 10 brands of eye drops, many of them using multiple brands. Only three products were directly related to the new outbreak: EzriCare Artificial Tears, Delsam Pharma Artificial Tears, Delsam Pharma Artificial Ointment, the same ones being recalled
Symptoms of the infection can include:
- Green, yellowish, or clear discharge from the eye;
- eye pain or discomfort;
- redness of the eyes or eyelids;
- foreign body sensation in the eye;
- High sensitivity to light;
- blurred vision