Seven patients at a California hospital were infected by a lethal, drug-resistant bacterial "superbug" that may have contributed to two deaths, and dozens more may have been exposed to the strain, the UCLA Health System said.
The University of California's hospital system in Los Angeles said it contacted more than 100 people who may have been exposed to carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) during endoscopic procedures between October and January. UCLA is offering those patients free home testing kits that it will later analyze.
UCLA's Ronald Reagan Medical Center said in a statement on Wednesday the bacteria might have spread during procedures that used a specialized endoscope inserted down the throat to diagnose and treat pancreatic and bile duct diseases.
Hospitals across the United States have reported exposures from the same type of medical equipment in recent years, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has said it was working with other government agencies and manufacturers of the scopes to minimize risks to patients.
The hospital system said it had been sterilizing the scopes according to the manufacturer's standards but was now using a more rigorous process.
"The two scopes involved with the infection were immediately removed and UCLA is now utilizing a decontamination process that goes above a and beyond manufacturer and national standards," it said in the statement.
Both the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services and the California Department of Public Health were notified as soon as the bacteria were detected, it added.
Superbug infections are difficult to treat because some of the bacteria have become resistant to antibiotics, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the germs could contribute to death in up to 50 percent of infected patients.
The complex design of the endoscopes linked to the California outbreak, known as duodenoscopes, may hinder proper cleaning, the FDA warned on Thursday.
The FDA said it wanted to raise awareness among healthcare professionals that the design is associated with a risk of multidrug-resistant infections even when a manufacturer's cleaning instructions are followed correctly.
There are three major manufacturers of the scopes: Olympus Corp, Fujifilm, and Pentax. Their disinfection recommendations were approved by the FDA.
The Los Angeles Times reported that UCLA became aware of the outbreak late last month, and said a total of 179 people might have been exposed.
In January, Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle said a bacteria spread through contaminated endoscopes had infected 32 people over two years.
Eleven of the patients infected between 2012 and 2014 eventually died. Because they were critically ill before being infected, it was unclear if the bacteria played any role in their deaths, health officials said.
Contaminated endoscopes also infected dozens of patients in Pittsburgh in 2012 and Chicago in 2014, health officials said. No fatalities were directly linked to those infections.