Department News

Acanthamoeba Program
University of Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary
Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences

UIC physicians link increase in eye infections among contact lens wearers to Acanthamoeba in water supply

Research by Charlotte Joslin O.D., assistant professor and PhD candidate in Epidemiology, and Elmer Tu M.D., associate professor and director, Cornea Service, prompted interest by the Center for Disease Control and others in recent outbreaks of corneal infections caused by Acanthamoeba.

Dr. Joslin and Dr. Tu identified a statistically significant increase in Acanthamoeba keratitis over a three-year period and informed the Illinois Department of Public Health in May 2006, which in turn notified the Centers for Disease Control. Their findings were published in the American Journal of Ophthalmology last August. The link between a contact lens solution, made by Advanced Medical Optics Inc., which has been voluntarily recalled by the company, was also established by Joslin and Tu in addition to the CDC. Publication of these findings in the American Journal of Ophthalmology is now pending.

Tu and Joslin have theorized that infection increases are linked to changing standards, under a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency mandate, to remove harmful chemicals from the water supply. Their study is the only on-going case-control study of involving both survey data and water sample analysis.

For more information

Research:

Joslin CE, Tu EY, McMahon TT, Passaro DJ, Stayner LT, Sugar J. Epidemiological characteristics of a Chicago-area Acanthamoeba keratitis outbreak. Am J Ophthalmol. 2006 Aug;142(2):212-7. Click here to link a pdf of the article

CHARLOTTE E. JOSLIN, ELMER Y. TU, MEGAN E. SHOFF, GREGORY C. BOOTON, PAUL A. FUERST,
TIMOTHY T. MCMAHON, ROBERT J. ANDERSON, MARK S. DWORKIN, JOEL SUGAR, FAITH G. DAVIS,
AND LESLIE T. STAYNER. The association of contact lens solution use and Acanthamoeba keratitis. Am J Ophthalmol. Aug 2007;144(2):169-180. Click here to link a pdf of the article

News coverage:

Man nearly loses sight after using contact lens formula - Chicago Sun Times

Contact-Lens Solution Is Tied to Eye Infection- Wall Street Journal

New Thinking on Eye Infections and Contacts -Wall Street Journal

Outbreak of Eye Infections Puzzles Officials - New York Times