Special Edition:
CONTACT LENSES TODAY
April 11, 2006
Contact Lenses Today® is edited by Dr. Joseph T. Barr and the staff of Contact Lens Spectrum. This week CLToday® reaches more than
12,000 readers in 74 countries.
B&L Suspends ReNu Shipments in U.S.
Bausch & Lomb (B&L) voluntarily suspended U.S. shipments of ReNu with MoistureLoc lens care solutions, following an alert from the Centers for
Disease Control (CDC) and Food and Drug Administration yesterday. The alert concerns an increasing number of
Fusarium keratitis infections reported in the U.S. The CDC,
FDA and local health departments are involved in an ongoing investigation to determine the source. As of April 9th, a total of 109 patients were under investigation in
Calif., Conn., Fla., Ga., Iowa, Md., Mass., Mich., Miss., N.J., N.Y., N.D., Ohio, Pa., Tenn., Texas and Vt.
The FDA says of the 30 cases investigated so far, 28 wore
soft contact lenses. In the contact lens group, 26 (93%) remembered which solution they were using and all of them (100%) reported using a ReNu brand solution or a
generic equivalent manufactured by the company. Five patients (18%) reported using other solutions in addition to ReNu, including some manufactured by Advanced Medical
Optics (AMO) and Alcon. Nine admitted to wearing lenses overnight. However, no cause has been established.
B&L is working closely with the CDC and the Wilmer Eye
Institute of Johns Hopkins University to implement a multi-center surveillance program to establish the actual incidence. The company will also change its recommendation
for replacing lens cases from once every three months to once per month, and stresses the importance of proper lens cleaning and care.
The CDC advises clinicians who
notice signs and symptoms of keratitis to consider the possibility of infection and obtaining a clinical specimen before initiating treatment. Report cases of
Fusarium
keratitis to state and local departments or directly to the CDC.
CLToday will continue to bring you coverage of this story as it develops.
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