GEORGIA, United States - The manufacturer of a brand of over-the-counter eyedrops said that it was recalling the product, EzriCare Artificial Tears, after it was linked to a drug-resistant bacteria strain that has caused at least one person’s death and vision loss in five others.
The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has advised people to stop using the eyedrops, as the agency investigates an outbreak of a strain of the bacteria pseudomonas aeruginosa, which can cause infections in the blood, lungs and other parts of the body.
This strain of the bacteria had never been identified in the United States before the current outbreak and is resistant to a class of antibiotics called carbapenems, which are generally considered a last resort.
The bacteria strain had been found in 55 people in 12 states as at Tuesday, the CDC said. The agency said that the infections had caused one death, vision loss in five of 11 people who had eye infections, and some hospitalisations.
Global Pharma, the Indian company that manufactures the EzriCare eyedrops, said that it was recalling the eyedrops “out of an abundance of caution”.
“Global Pharma is fully cooperating with US federal authorities, and is continuing to investigate this matter, but thus far we have not determined whether our manufacturing facility is the source of the contamination,” the company said in a statement.
Most of the people affected by the outbreak used artificial tears before the infections, the CDC said. They had reported using more than 10 brands of artificial tears, and some patients used more than one, but EzriCare Artificial Tears is the most common brand, the agency said.
The CDC said that it had found the drug-resistant bacteria strain in opened bottles of the EzriCare eyedrops collected from patients with and without eye infections. The agency is testing unopened bottles to determine if contamination occurred during the manufacturing process.
The bacteria strain was found in people in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Nevada, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin between May and January, according to the CDC.
The CDC said that people who have used EzriCare Artificial Tears and who have signs of an eye infection should seek medical care immediately. The symptoms can include yellow, green or clear discharge from the eye, redness of the eye or eyelid, increased sensitivity to light and eye pain or discomfort. NYTIMES
