Fungal Eye Infections Rising

Fungal Eye Infections Rising

By TRAVIS REED, Associated Press Writer2 hours, 27 minutes ago

Alison Bregman-Rodriguez felt like lightning struck her right eye — or like someone pulled skin out of it. For almost a month she couldn't work, drive or watch television. "I'd never felt so much pain," the 30-year-old Plantation social worker said.

It wasn't until several doctor visits later that Bregman-Rodriguez was diagnosed with a fungal eye infection, a condition difficult to treat that can cause blindness.

She's one of an alarming 21 cases treated so far this year at the University of Miami's Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, which typically sees that many in a year.

Even more peculiar is that 12 cases involved patients with contact lenses, while previously fewer than 2 percent of those infected wore them.

Increases have also surfaced in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are monitoring a dozen states — which are not being named — for an uptick.

The fungus, called fusarium, is commonly found in plant material and soil in tropical and subtropical areas. Without eyedrop treatment, which can last 2-3 months, the infection can scar the cornea and blind its victims.

"The question is why all of the sudden contact lens users were targeted by this organism, whereas before they have not been," said Dr. Eduardo Alfonso, medical director of the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at the University of Miami. "The fungus has been around, contact lenses have been around — why have they formed a marriage now?"

Symptoms can include blurry vision, pain or redness, increased sensitivity to light and excessive ocular discharge.

Alfonso said researchers are trying to determine what's causing the increase, but the only common denominators right now are that most patients wore contacts and lived in a warm place where the fungus grew abundantly.

He recommends proper contact lens care, including washing hands with soap and drying with a lint-free towel before handling contacts or touching eyes. Lens storage cases should be replaced every three months and solution should be changed daily even if the lenses aren't used.

Alfonso says the fungus is tricky to detect because most infections in contact lens users have historically been bacterial, not fungal. He said diagnosis requires a lab culture not all doctors are prepared to take or read. The culture taken from Bregman-Rodriguez's eye, for example, didn't grow enough to test for weeks.

Further, the medicine used to treat fungal infections isn't widely available at pharmacies and often must be ordered.

However, Alfonso said the chances of blindness are very small if the infection starts at the periphery of the cornea and is properly identified.

The Florida Department of Health isn't calling the increase a public health problem, spokesman Fernando Senra said. However, he urged people to properly care for their contacts.

"It's basically something for people to become aware of," Senra said.

The hygienic advice was little comfort to Bregman-Rodriguez, who said she was already "a clean freak" about her lenses. She's still taking a regimen of steroids to shrink some remaining scarring below her pupil and says she'll never wear contacts again.

"Dr. Alfonso told me I was a lucky person, because most people probably would've had to get a cornea transplant," she said. "They were able to find out what it was in time, but that even scares me because so many people don't go to the doctor right away to get a culture. Imagine what can happen." Tweet