Study links ReNu infection outbreak to improper temperature controls

Saturday, 01 August 2009

A study conducted by researchers with the Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine has found that improper temperature controls at a Bausch & Lomb storage facility may have contributed to an outbreak of eye infections among users of the company’s ReNu with MoistureLoc contact lens solution. The article was published in a recent edition of the Archives of Ophthalmology. Bausch & Lomb issued a recall notice for ReNu with MoistureLoc in April 2006 after the contact lens solution was linked to an outbreak of the fungal eye infection Fusarium keratitis. Officials from the Centers for Disease Control and prevention have identified at least 154 cases of ReNu users who developed Fusarium keratitis infections, which may cause permanent damage to the cornea that may require a corneal transplant. According to researchers, temperatures in the Greenville, South Carolina storage warehouse where some MoistureLoc bottles were stored may have reached temperatures as high as 167º F before they were shipped to the public. Bausch & Lomb was subsequently forced to add temperature controls in the storage facility in response to an investigation by the Food and Drug Administration. Researchers say that storing ReNu with MoistureLoc at high temperatures for several weeks may have caused the contact lens solution to become less effective at disinfection. The new study cited a report conducted by Bausch & Lomb which found that all Fusarium cases seemed to be linked to bottles of MoistureLoc that were produced in Greenville.