New Health Alert Over Contact Lens Solution

April 10, 2006 — -- Bausch & Lomb voluntarily suspended shipments of its ReNu MoistureLoc brand contact lens solution as the federal Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continue to investigate a rare fungal outbreak among contact lens users.

The decision was made after a preliminary investigation found that ReNu was used by many of those known so far to be infected, FDA officials said in a press conference Monday evening.

"The data ... associates the use of certain products with some of these cases in a fairly dramatic fashion," said Dr. Daniel G. Schultz, director of the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health.

Contact lens solution is used by all contact lens wearers to rinse and store their lenses when they are not wearing them. Bausch & Lomb is one of the largest manufacturers of both brand-name and generic solutions.

To date, 109 people have tested positive for fusarium fungal infection of the eye's cornea. The CDC has so far fully investigated just 30 of the patients' cases, but the investigation is ongoing.

Among those cases, 26 people reported using ReNu in the month before the infection.

The number of known infections represents just a tiny fraction of the more than 30 million people in the United States who wear contact lenses. Still the health agencies have issued warnings to contact lens wearers and health care practitioners.

"Wearers may want to consider performing a rub-and-rinse lens cleaning method, rather than a no-rub method, in order to minimize the number of germs and reduce the chances of infection," the CDC said in a statement.

Wearers are told to remove lenses and see their doctor if they have redness, pain, tearing increased light sensitivity, blurry vision or unusual discharge. The fungal infection can become severe enough to require corneal transplants.

To keep lenses clean, contact wearers should wash their hands thoroughly before handling lenses.

Shares of Bausch & Lomb fell more than 9 percent in after-hours trading today.