http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dpd/parasites/acanthamoeba/2007outbreak_q&a_ak.htm
How is information being collected on people with AK? Standardized telephone interviews of people with AK, their treating ophthalmologists, and their primary eye care providers are being conducted by state and local health officials and staff at CDC. Laboratory testing at CDC of clinical specimens, contact lenses, bottles of solution, and contact lens cases received from people with AK, including genetic typing of Acanthamoeba, is ongoing.How sick are the people with AK? Of the 37 patients for whom clinical data were available on May 24, 2007, infection with Acanthamoeba was limited to the eye and medical therapy for AK was unsuccessful for nine people. These nine people were required or expected to undergo corneal transplantation.
How was the nationwide increase in cases detected? In 2006, the Illinois Department of Health contacted CDC to report an increase in AK cases in Illinois that were under investigation by the University of Illinois at Chicago. In January 2007, CDC initiated a retrospective survey of 22 ophthalmology centers nationwide to assess whether cases of AK had been increasing in the United States over the past 8 years. In March 2007, data received from 13 of these centers demonstrated an increase in culture-confirmed cases of AK beginning in 2004 with a wide geographic distribution. On March 16, 2007, CDC initiated a multi-state investigation to look for risk factors associated with this increase in AK cases.
