On 03.28.2023 at 07:00 a.m.
Modified on 03.28.2023 at 7:00 p.m.
A particularly dreadful bacterium has contaminated eye drops imported from India and infected the eyes of nearly 70 people in the United States. Three people succumbed to the pathogen and more than ten lost their sight.
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Three people have died and a dozen have gone blind following using contaminated eye drops in the United States, the country’s health authority said. In all, these are 68 people in 16 different states who were infected with these EzriCare drops, from the Global Pharma laboratory, which were sold over the counter. A first recall was launched in February but this assessment was communicated in mid-March, which may mean that there might have been other cases since.
A strain highly resistant to antibiotics
These Indian-made eye drops have caused loss of vision in eight people and four have to have their eyeballs removed. In question, a strain of the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa Who “had never been reported in the United States prior to this outbreak”, said the statement from the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention. This pathogen is “extremely drug resistant” so much so that the infection caused the death of three people. The doctors realized this when they tried to treat a 72-year-old senior for several weeks, without his being able to regain his vision or his condition improving. If this bacterium is often the cause of corneal infections or nosocomial diseases, it would be a particularly resistant variant.
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“Patients and healthcare providers should immediately discontinue use of EzriCare artificial tears”, the agency said last week, adding that regarding 40 infections came from health facilities. Symptoms include blurred vision, redness or the feeling of having something in your eyes, and “yellow, green, or clear discharge from the eye”.
Lawsuits have been launched in Florida once morest the manufacturer, reports the New York Post, following a 68-year-old grandmother went blind in one eye from a major ulcer on her cornea. Surgery might not save his vision. For some patients, on the other hand, a corneal transplant might help them regain some of their visual acuity.
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