Durham VA employees, resident experience vision problems after bug zapper encounter
Five people at the Durham VA Health Care System suffered vision problems after standing near a bug zapper operating with the wrong type of light bulb, a spokesperson said Saturday.
Someone placed an incorrect light bulb in the bug zapper, emitting too strong of light that affected the vision of three employees, a resident and a contractor who had a meeting near the bug zapper, VA spokesperson Yves-Marie Daley said.
Daley did not say when the incident occurred or elaborate on the severity of the vision loss, but said vision was improving for all five people affected. The facility is also checking other bug zappers for similar issues and has opened an internal investigation.
Bug zappers use ultraviolet light to attract insects, which are then electrocuted as they fly through an electrified wire mesh to reach the light. The UV lights used in bug zappers as they come from manufacturers are not intense enough to damage skin or eyeballs, according to the Health Physics Society. They are weaker than the UV bulbs used in tanning beds.
But UV lamps are also being used as disinfectants, including against the coronavirus, and those more powerful lamps can cause painful eye injuries and burn-like skin reactions, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The FDA warns against ever looking directly at a UV lamp, even briefly.
Whether UV light is an effective way to neutralize the coronavirus is uncertain, the FDA reports, but one thing is certain: While UV light attracts many insects, mosquitoes are not among them.
For safety purposes, always check that a light bulb is the correct wattage for a particular device, like a lamp or bug-killer, before installing it.
This story was originally published July 10, 2021 at 5:01 PM with the headline "Durham VA employees, resident experience vision problems after bug zapper encounter."
