Contaminated artificial tears: three dead, eight blinded and 68 infections

A Florida firefighter lost vision in one eye after using artificial tears infected with bacteria, which reportedly killed three people and infected nearly 70 others.

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“The redness came on, then the irritation, it stung a lot and it was abnormal,” fire captain Adam Di Sarro told CBS News. It got progressively worse, to the point where I couldn’t even see after a few hours.”

Except that the Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria, which the products contained, is resistant to antibiotics, so doctors feared that the firefighter would lose his eye.

The latter has turned to the courts to sue the company EzriCare for negligence, and hopes that surgery will allow him to recover his vision to return to work.

Others, however, were less fortunate: three patients would have lost their lives in connection with the bacteria, eight others would have completely lost their sight and four had to resort to surgeries to have their eyes removed, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The agency is currently investigating a nationwide outbreak of the bacteria, in EzriCare and Delsam Pharma artificial tears, which is believed to have infected 68 people in 16 states.

These products have been under recall since February, according to the New York Post last month.

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