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Resistant Bacterial Infection Outbreak At California Hospital
puddingebola writes From the article: "A potentially deadly "superbug" resistant to antibiotics has infected seven patients, including two who died, and more than 160 others were exposed at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center through contaminated medical instruments, the hospital revealed. The drug-resistant superbug known as CRE was likely transmitted to the Los Angeles patients by contaminated medical scopes during endoscopic procedures that took place between October 2014 and January 2015, a university statement said. " UCLA says the infections occurred via contaminated endoscopes that were sterilized according to the manufacturer's specifications.
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Ronald Reagan's cold dead hand stretches forth again to wreak havoc across the land!
"I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
From January 9, 2014 ...
This investigation highlights the potential for CRE transmission following ERCP. Health-care facilities with CRE outbreaks should consider the possibility of ERCP-related transmission. If ERCP-related transmission of CRE is suspected, reprocessing and preventative maintenance procedures for ERCP endoscopes should be evaluated in consultation with the manufacturer of the endoscope and automated endoscope reprocessor, if used. In addition, expertise in the evaluation and prevention of CRE transmission are available at CDC and can be accessed via state and local health departments.
http://www.infectioncontroltod...
So this "bug" went unpatched for at least a year.
Sheldon Cooper: To a hospital? Full of sick people? Oh, I don't think so.
Penny: Okay, well, your friend and his mother are there. We're going!
Sheldon Cooper: I can't.
Penny: Oh, don't tell me you're afraid of germs.
Sheldon Cooper: Not all germs. Just the ones that will kill me. The same way I'm not afraid of all steak knives; just the ones that might be plunged in my thorax.
Leonard Hofstadter: Ah-uh, fine, I'll tell Howard you didn't come because you're more concerned about your own well-being than his.
Sheldon Cooper: I would think he would know that.
Penny: Okay, you know what? You are unbelievable. You buy all these superhero T-shirts but when it's time for you to step up and do the right thing, you just hide in the laundry room.
Sheldon Cooper: Fine, I'll go. Just for the record, my Aunt Ruth died in a hospital. She went in to visit my Uncle Roger, caught something, and bit the dust a week later. The two of them now share a coffee can on my mother's mantel.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
flexible endoscopes have been around since the 1960's, and they cannot go through an autoclave. Rigid endoscopes can go through an autoclave, but they are more limited in application.
Maybe a camera endoscope could be designed to last in an autoclave, if you can make one you should patent it and demands the FDA no longer approve older designs as they are difficult to sterilized and have literally killed people already.
I'm seriously regretting any anti-bacterial soap I've used over the years right about now.
Happy people make bad consumers.
And the final irony? If Ronald Reagan ran for President today, he would be kicked out of the GOP today for being too liberal.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
Acid, chlorine, etc. all kill bacteria in ways that are unlikely to result in resistant strains.
The compounds in anti-bacterial soap (triclosan for example) are not used to treat internal
infections. Antibiotics are more specalized compounds which target bacteria and are (relatively) harmless to humans.
The problem (if there is one) with anti-bacterial soap seems to be that a certain amount of exposure to
bacteria is apparently good for the human immune system and widespread use of anti-bacterial compounds
works against this. It is the widespread addition of antibiotics to the feed for livestock which is of
most concern. Thie same compounds are feed to livestock as are used to treat human infections and
the animals become breeding ground for antibiotics resistant bacteria.
Clearly the reason these patients died is because the "Ronald Reagen" medical center used too "conservative" an approach to their treatment.
Tell your brother in law that Obamacare can save him, but only if he repents.
There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
Current estimates are that 3% of patients in ICU test positive and 1/3 of people in nursing homes.
You read that right, 1/3. Also multiple types of bacteria are CRE. It means they have an enzyme that breaks down a class of antibotics.
This has been sneaking up on us for a while.
I think that the problem is, most bacteria are usually harmless, but these can't be killed easy, and if they ever turn into blood infections the mortality rate seems to be 50%.