At least seven patients treated at UCLA's Ronald Reagan Medical Center between October to January have been infected by the drug-resistant superbug CRE, and two deaths have been linked to the outbreak.
Nearly 180 were potentially exposed, the Los Angeles Times reports, and the number could go up as more people are tested. UCLA said it discovered the outbreak in late January, and started notifying patients this week. The superbug can stay on a specialized endoscope that that is used to treat cancers and digestive system issues and is hard to disinfect due to its design. In a statement, UCLA said that it had been cleaning the scopes "according to standards stipulated by the manufacturer," but once it found out about the infections began to disinfect them "above and beyond" regulations and removed the two scopes involved with the infections.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
5 hilariously spirited cartoons about the spirit of ChristmasCartoons Artists take on excuses, pardons, and more
-
Inside the house of AssadThe Explainer Bashar al-Assad and his father, Hafez, ruled Syria for more than half a century but how did one family achieve and maintain power?
-
Sudoku medium: December 22, 2024The Week's daily medium sudoku puzzle
-
California declares bird flu emergencySpeed Read The emergency came hours after the nation's first person with severe bird flu infection was hospitalized
-
The future of fluoridated water is up for debateThe Explainer The oral benefits are watery
-
Bird flu one mutuation from human threat, study findsSpeed Read A Scripps Research Institute study found one genetic tweak of the virus could enable its spread among people
-
Dark chocolate tied to lower diabetes riskSpeed Read The findings were based on the diets of about 192,000 US adults over 34 years
-
UK gynaecological care crisis: why thousands of women are left in painThe Explainer Waiting times have tripled over the past decade thanks to lack of prioritisation or funding for women's health
-
What are Trump's plans for public health?Today's Big Question From abortion access to vaccine mandates
-
A growing iodine deficiency could bring back America's goiterUnder the Radar Ailment is back thanks to complacency, changing diets and a lack of public-health education
-
ACA opens 2025 enrollment, enters 2024 raceSpeed Read Mike Johnson promises big changes to the Affordable Care Act if Trump wins the election
