CDC issues superbug warning for doctors' offices
Four patients at a Los Angeles-area hospital have been infected with the antibiotic-resistant “superbug” linked to a type of medical scope that is used on more than a half-million people in the U.S. every year, the hospital said.
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center said in a statement that is halted endoscopic procedures after learning about the outbreak after two patients died from the superbug known as CRE at Ronald Regan UCLA Medical Center two weeks ago.
The hospital said the germ may have been transmitted through a duodenoscope made by Olympus Corp. during procedures performed between August and January.
Cedars said one patient has died, but it was unrelated to the superbug infection.
The hospital said there's no evidence other patients are at risk. But as a precaution, it's sending free home-test kits to 67 more patients who had procedures to diagnose pancreatic and bile-duct problems.
CRE, or carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, can cause infections of the bladder or lungs and can contribute to the deaths of seriously infected patients. The cause of CRE can be traced back to hard-to-clean medical scopes made by Olympus and other companies.
Cedars and UCLA said infections occurred despite cleaning the devices to the manufacturer's standards. The hospitals have since implemented more stringent disinfection procedures.
In the UCLA outbreak, the hospital offered free testing to about 170 patients who were potentially exposed. The hospital said Wednesday it doesn't have an update on the results.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has said it received reports of 135 patients in the U.S. who may have been infected by contaminated scopes between January 2013 and December 2014. The agency has acknowledged that the design of the scopes can make them hard to clean, but it said pulling them off the market would deprive patients of "this beneficial and often life-saving procedure."
Cedars removed the contaminated scope from use and will resume endoscopic procedures after consulting other hospitals and government agencies.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
Four patients at a Los Angeles-area hospital have been infected with the antibiotic-resistant “superbug” linked to a type of medical scope that is used on more than a half-million people in the U.S. every year, the hospital said.
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center said in a statement that is halted endoscopic procedures after learning about the outbreak after two patients died from the superbug known as CRE at Ronald Regan UCLA Medical Center two weeks ago.
The hospital said the germ may have been transmitted through a duodenoscope made by Olympus Corp. during procedures performed between August and January.
Cedars said one patient has died, but it was unrelated to the superbug infection.
The hospital said there's no evidence other patients are at risk. But as a precaution, it's sending free home-test kits to 67 more patients who had procedures to diagnose pancreatic and bile-duct problems.
CRE, or carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, can cause infections of the bladder or lungs and can contribute to the deaths of seriously infected patients. The cause of CRE can be traced back to hard-to-clean medical scopes made by Olympus and other companies.
Cedars and UCLA said infections occurred despite cleaning the devices to the manufacturer's standards. The hospitals have since implemented more stringent disinfection procedures.
In the UCLA outbreak, the hospital offered free testing to about 170 patients who were potentially exposed. The hospital said Wednesday it doesn't have an update on the results.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has said it received reports of 135 patients in the U.S. who may have been infected by contaminated scopes between January 2013 and December 2014. The agency has acknowledged that the design of the scopes can make them hard to clean, but it said pulling them off the market would deprive patients of "this beneficial and often life-saving procedure."
Cedars removed the contaminated scope from use and will resume endoscopic procedures after consulting other hospitals and government agencies.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
