The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday warned doctors and hospitals around the country that a commonly used medical scope could be difficult to clean and “may facilitate the spread of deadly bacteria.”
The agency’s warning comes after seven patients were infected and two died from a drug-resistant “superbug” at UCLA’s Ronald Reagan Medical Center. Public health authorities are tracking down at least 179 other patients who might have been exposed to the dangerous bacteria through the use of contaminated medical scopes.
The affected patients suffered from a drug-resistant superbug known as CRE, or Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae, during “complex endoscopic procedures” to diagnose and treat diseases in the pancreas between October and January at the hospital, UCLA’s Health System said late Wednesday in an emailed statement…