• Friday, March 29, 2024

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Yet another India-made pharmaceutical product lands under scrutiny: Eyedrops recalled after infection death in US

Representational Image (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)

By: Shubham Ghosh

An Indian firm has recalled a line of eyedrops from the American market after the country’s health protection body said the product could be contaminated with drug-resistant bacteria that have been linked to reports of permanent loss of vision and even one death from infection in the bloodstream.

The US Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is examining unopened containers of EzriCare Artificial Tears eyedrops, manufactured by Global Pharma Healthcare based in Chennai in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, reports said.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), on the other hand, has said that it has moved to restrict imports of products manufactured by the company.

“FDA is warning consumers and health care practitioners not to purchase and immediately stop using EzriCare Artificial Tears or Delsam Pharma’s Artificial Tears due to potential bacterial contamination. Using contaminated artificial tears increases risk of eye infections that could result in blindness or death,” the agency was quoted as saying on Thursday (2).

Global Pharma Healthcare said in a statement that it “is voluntarily recalling all lots within expiry of their Artificial Tears Lubricant Eye Drops, distributed by /EzriCare, LLC- and Delsam Pharma, to the consumer level, due to possible contamination”.

According to a report by CBS News in the US, doctors have been alerted to an unprecedented outbreak of Pseudomonas aeruginosa which has affected at least 55 people across 12 states and causing at least one death.

So far, at least five of the 11 patients. who have had infections in their eyes directly, have lost their vision, a CDC spokesperson was quoted as saying by the network.

According to an Insider.com report, Pseudomonas aeruginosa can cause infections in the blood, lungs, or wounds and it is proving difficult to treat the germ in recent times owing to antibiotic resistance.

The bacterium usually spreads to people when they are exposed to contaminated water or soil, where it typically lives, it has been learnt.

The India-manufactured eyedrops are the latest pharmaceutical product to be scrutinised after cough syrups that were linked with deaths of a number of children in the Gambia and Uzbekistan last year.

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