In focus: Acanthamoeba takes a liking to UK households

Acanthamoeba keratitis has once again created some unwelcome headlines for contact lens suppliers and practitioners.

In recent years, the cyst-forming microorganism has frequented the summer news pages, usually when holidaymakers make the mistake of swimming in their contact lenses and return home with more problems than they went away with.

A fresh South East-based study released by UCL and Moorfields Eye Hospital last month has now suggested a threefold increase in Acanthamoeba among contact lens wearers since 2011 (Optician 28.7.18).

The study also showed that reusable contact lens wearers were more likely to have used an ineffective contact lens solution, have contaminated their lenses with water or reported poor contact lens hygiene. The findings were published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology.