A mom was left blind in one eye when a microscopic parasite latched onto her cornea after she went swimming while wearing her contact lenses.
Stacey Peoples, 49, was left without vision in her left eye after
contracting acanthamoeba keratitis, a rare infection in which an amoeba attacks the outer layer of the eye.
The mom-of-four was misdiagnosed with conjunctivitis in June 2014, but her eye became so painful during her family’s 4th of July vacation that she could not leave her bedroom.
The school administrator was rushed to the emergency room in Traverse City, Michigan, when she completely lost vision in her left eye, which had clouded over “like a zombie’s”.
Medics determined Peoples’ eye was being attacked by acanthamoeba, a microorganism that lives in common water sources and in rare cases can cause severe infections. Peoples, of Denver, believes she contracted the infection at her local pool when she wore her contact lenses while swimming with her 8-year-old son Charlie.
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 85 percent acanthamoeba keratitis cases occur in contact lens users.