By Erika Edwards -
NBC News
The deadly bacteria detected in some eye drops – already withdrawn from the market – that has caused deaths, blindness and multiple serious infections had never been seen in the United States until 2022, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). , for its English acronym).
["I can't play with my grandchildren anymore": a Latina woman claims in a lawsuit that she lost an eye due to contaminated drops]
The bacterium has affected dozens of people and killed three.
Even as contaminated vials have been removed from stores and other healthcare facilities, the CDC hopes to continue to identify more cases.
What has alarmed experts the most is how this type of bacteria, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which is well known to scientists, has become resistant to almost all treatments.
EzriCare brand eye drops.EzriCare
As of April 7, the CDC had identified 68 cases of a new variant of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in 16 states.
The investigation continues, though the agency has to wait for states to report other cases.
More than half of the cases have been found in extended medical care centers.
Almost all are linked to contaminated eye drops that had been imported from India.
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Pseudomonas aeruginosa has been known for years.
In 2020, there were about 28,800 drug-resistant cases in hospitals in the United States, revealed a CDC investigator who was not authorized to speak to the media.
But the new infections revealed a variant of the bacteria that had never been reported in the United States: carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas with Verona integron-mediated metallo-β-lactamase and Guiana extended-spectrum-β-lactamase.
That long name basically shows that her genes have been mutated to make her more resistant to drugs.
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"It was a Pseudomonas originally," Dr. Robert Bonomo, a professor of medicine at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, who has studied various drug-resistant bacteria since the 1990s, said in an interview.
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The CDC's investigation revealed that
infections linked to eye drops could be treated with a single antibiotic called cefidecorol.
There is nothing new about the way the mutated bacteria attacks the body.
It's the drug resistance that makes it dangerous.
Eye infections are common.
But, since the eyes are directly linked to the nasal cavity, the bacteria can move into the respiratory tract and cause pneumonia.
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"Pseudomonas aeruginosa can affect any tissue in the body as it travels in the blood and can cause sepsis," said Dr. Guillermo Amescua, a cornea specialist at the Bascom Palmer Institute at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.
Amescua's team has treated seven patients affected by the outbreak.
Pseudomonas aeruginosa can affect any tissue in the body as it travels in the blood and can cause sepsis."
Dr. Guillermo Amescua Bascom Palmer Institute
The Connecticut Department of Health investigated its first case in June 2022. Since then, a spokesperson said, the agency has identified 26 patients.
Most of them have been in extended health care institutions.
Healthy people can transmit the bacteria even without knowing they have it on their skin, although there is no evidence of person-to-person transmission outside of health care settings, the CDC expert said.
Most cases have been directly linked to contaminated eye drops.
Which eye drops have been withdrawn from the market
EzriCare eye drops were the most used among people who later became ill.
Those eye drops have been withdrawn, along with Delsam Pharma's Artificial Tears and Artificial Eye Oinment.
Three patients have died. Eight required corneal transplants. Four have had at least one eye removed.
The CDC alerted the public to the potential danger with eye drops in an announcement on January 20.
But doctors across the country had been reporting cases of infection with the bacteria since at least last summer.
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On Monday, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a preliminary report of an inspection at a Global Pharma Healthcare facility in India, where it found problems with the manufacturing process and factory measurements. to ensure sterilization, according to an Associated Press report.
Most cases were advanced when found
That's what happened to Juan Lopez, 93, in Miami, Florida, who had been using EzriCare drops for months before developing an infection in January.
His doctor prescribed antibiotic drops.
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But at the beginning of February, Lopez had a fever of 103 degrees F and was hospitalized.
Blood tests revealed that he had Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
Lopez was successfully treated and now advises others to pay attention to unusual symptoms.
"Don't delay. Definitely go to the doctor," he said.
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The mutated variant of Pseudomonas underscores the increasing risk of antibiotic resistance.
"These bacteria were on this planet long before we were and over millions and millions of years, they have evolved mechanisms to survive," said Bonomo, the Cleveland professor.
"We like to think that we can compete with them [bacteria], but they have a tendency to be one step ahead of us," he said.
"That puts us at a disadvantage."
