A popular US sports broadcaster's eye infection during his coverage of the Sochi Winter Olympics has created a Twitter frenzy.
Veteran NBC Olympics anchor Bob Costas was forced to temporarily pull out from the network's live Sochi coverage overnight after contracting conjunctivitis or pink eye.
The infection first appeared in Costas' left eye shortly after arriving in Russia, before spreading to his right eye.
Now the broadcaster's name has became the fourth most searched term on Google and is the butt of numerous jokes.
It's spawned the spin-off Twitter handle @BobCostasEyes, whose tweets include "He gets a lot of criticism, but iris-pect Bob Costas" and "These Bob Costas jokes are getting cornea and cornea".
"Bob Costas' pinkeye is a viral infection that's going viral," quipped one Twitter user, while another said his red, watery eyes were distracting.
"Bob Costas is freaking me out with the eye. I keep trying to focus on what he's saying but I'm so distracted. #Olympics2014."
