Health Highlights: May 27, 2007

Mar. 23 -- Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments,compiled by editors of HealthDay:

Contact Lens Eye Solution Pulled from Market; FDA Says to Discontinue Use

Increased incidences of a rare but stubborn eye infection have caused the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to alert the public to discontinue using a solution used to clean contact lenses.

The Associated Press reports that AMO Complete Moisture Plus Multi-Purpose Solution, used for cleaning and storing soft contact lenses, had been immediately and voluntarily recalled by its manufacturer, Advanced Medical Optics Inc., of Santa Ana Calif.

The infection in question is Acanthamoeba keratitis, which is caused by an amoeba, the A.P. quotes Michael Beach, team leader in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's division of parasitic diseases, as saying. If left untreated, the infection could cause permanent vision loss or complete blindness.

Neither the FDA nor Advanced Medical Optics said the contact lens solution caused increased cases of Acanthamoeba keratitis, the wire service reported. Rather, the solution didn't protect against the infection, which usually comes from swimming or showering.

Because Acanthamoeba keratitis strikes only one or two people per million, the situation came to the government's notice because only because a Chicago ophthalmologist, Dr. Elmer Tu, noticed more than a dozen cases of the infection. He usually saw only saw one or two cases a year, the A.P. reported.

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After 8 Years in Prison, Dr. Kevorkian Scheduled for Release Next Thursday

Dr. Jack Kevorkian, in a Michigan prison for more than eight years, is scheduled to leave June 1, after serving part of a 10-to-25 year sentence based on his conviction in helping a seriously ill man kill himself.

Known as "Dr. Death" for his outspoken advocacy of physician-assisted suicide, Kevorkian, 79, is unlikely to resume the unorthodox methods that attracted so much media attention and may have even led to his arrest and conviction, the Associated Press reports.

But with Oregon being the only state that allows physician-assisted suicide, the wire service says that Kevorkian will probably resume his attempts to get the controversial procedure approved in more states.