'Superbug' linked to 2 deaths at UCLA hospital

[Omaha Steve]

Source: USA Today

Doug Stanglin

Seven patients — including two who died — have been infected with an antibiotic-resistant and potential deadly "superbug" likely transmitted by contaminated medical instruments at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, hospital officials said.

As many as 179 patients may have been infected by the superbug known as Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae, or CRE, the hospital said in a statement Wednesday.

The hospital said the patients may have been infected during "complex endoscopic procedures" during the diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic and bile-duct problems between October 2014 and January 2015.

It said the patients have been offered free home testing kits that will be analyzed by the hospital to determine if they have been infected.

FULL story and video at link.


Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/02/19/superbug-ucla-medical-center/23663747/

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

1. Rip Reagan from the signage and make it Robin Williams UCLA Medical Center.

[C Moon]

2. Great. I'm going to probably need one of those procedures soon. :/

I hope they get those folks back to feeling better. How awful to get sicker when you go in to find out while you feel sick.

[proverbialwisdom]

3. Update.

http://touch.latimes.com/#section/1780/article/p2p-82864694/

Maker of scopes in deadly UCLA outbreak is focus of federal probe

MELODY PETERSEN, Chad Terhune
February 19, 2015, 12:54 p.m.

The manufacturer of the medical scopes at the center of a deadly bacterial outbreak at UCLA Medical Center is under investigation by federal officials for possible violations of laws that ban improper payments to doctors and other customers.

Olympus Corp. of Americas, the U.S. subsidiary of the Japanese manufacturer, said earlier this month that the Justice Department had been investigating its medical business since November 2011.

Olympus manufactured the scopes that medical officials believe infected seven patients at UCLA’s Ronald Reagan Medical Center with a drug-resistant bacteria. Two of those people died.

The Food and Drug Administration warned hospitals and physicians on Thursday that the commonly used medical scopes may have fueled the superbug outbreak at UCLA. The specialized endoscope is inserted down patients' throats to treat cancers, gallstones and other ailments of the digestive system.

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