Hospital ‘Superbug’ Outbreak Linked to Scopes

About 100 patients at a Los Angeles hospital may have been exposed to dangerous drug-resistant bacteria. The exposure occurred through contaminated medical devices, Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center said. Seven patients have become seriously ill, and 2 have died, the hospital said. Before getting sick, they had digestive procedures using devices called endoscopes. The scopes were contaminated with carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE), the hospital said. CRE infections can fight off most antibiotics. This means they are hard to cure. People who had procedures between October and January may have been exposed. The hospital is contacting these patients. They will be given home testing kits. The hospital lab will analyze the results. The two scopes had already been cleaned according to manufacturers’ standards, the hospital said.