News

Revised guidance on the decontamination of trial contact lenses and other contact devices has been released by the Department of Health's (DoH) Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens (ACDP).

The new guidance replaces previous advice issued amid fears that Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) and variant CJD, the human form of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), could theoretically be transmitted from person to person by contact lenses, tonometer heads and diagnostic lenses.

Under the new guidance, six steps are required to minimise the risk of transmission via re-used contact devices. The lens or device should be:

• Decontaminated immediately after contact with the eye surface
• Rinsed in Water for Irrigation BP (not tap water) for not less than 30 seconds
• Cleaned on all surfaces with a liquid soap or detergent, then rinsed in Water for Irrigation BP for a further 30 seconds
• Immersed in a freshly prepared solution of sodium hypochlorite providing 10,000ppm of available chlorine for 10 minutes
• Rinsed in three changes of Water for Irrigation BP for a total of not less than 10 minutes
• Shaken to remove excess water, dried with a disposable tissue, and stored dry in a suitable container.

Any further measure (such as autoclaving) can then be carried out, if this is necessary and if the device is designed to withstand such a process. Otherwise, it is ready for immediate re-use.

Speaking at the British Contact Lens Association's (BCLA) Pioneers' Conference in London on November 26, Professor Roger Buckley, a member of the ophthalmology subgroup of the ACDP's Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy Working Group set up to review the advice, said that there had been no known cases of transmission of CJD resulting from contact lens wear or diagnostic examination and there was now thought to be a low level of risk of infectivity of the cornea and ocular surface.

Professor Buckley told BCLA members that if the recommendations were not followed practitioners could be 'on their own medico-legally'.

The full guidance, entitled Managing CJD/vCJD risk in ophthalmology can be found on the DoH website.

Providing exclusive eye care news, information and educational needs every week, including a FREE CET programme. Subscribe to Optician Print Edition.