SOLVED. YA realistic fiction (sci fi?) An alternative fuel source made from single celled organisms spills and a few kids fall into a ditch with the organisms and go blind. Read 2017-2018. Spoilers. [s]

[Elaine]

The billionare who engineered the fuel said that the organisms died when in contact with oxygen i believe, but the organisms mutated so survive. I also think it became an epidemic in their town? There was also a detail on the pages that started out as just a small dot but as you got father into the book they multiplied like they were doing mitosis.
SPOILERS FOR THE END




(view spoiler)[ There was a veterinarian who was testing to see if animals would have the same effects because he dropped his turtle and nothing happened to the turtle, and it healed the other animals. So they used that to heal the kids, and they could see again. The organisms were also killed by the cold so after the winter everyone was cautiously optimistic because there could have possibly been a cell that mutated to survive cold (hide spoiler)]

[Capn]

Have you checked some of the relevant catch-all lists already?

2013
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...

2014
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3...

2015
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/7...

2016
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/8...

for example? :) It's hard to help by keyword search in this case - any names, places, or specific terms come to mind?

[Demetrius]

Is it Fuzzy Mud by Louis Sachar?

[Julie]

Fuzzy Mud was my first thought too.

[Elaine]

Thank you! It was fuzzy mud :]