Superbug Found at L.A.’s Elite Cedars-Sinai Hospital

Less than two weeks after the UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center revealed that 179 patients might have been exposed to the “superbug”–the carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE)–Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Beverly Hills admitted on Wednesday that four patients also contracted the same superbug, and 64 others may have been infected since last August, according to Reuters.

One of the four infected patients later died from “an underlying disease,” rather than the superbug, the hospital asserted, adding that the patient’s superbug infection had been eliminated before the death.

The same procedure that endangered the patients at UCLA also was utilized at Cedars in the cases; all 68 patients had endoscopy procedures using the same kind of instrument, a duodenoscope, which has been found to have caused trouble not only at UCLA but also at other hospitals around the nation.

Cedars said it would contact the 68 patients and offer them a free home-testing kit. The FDA has warned about the duodenopscope, whose structure has been revealed to be difficult to disinfect. Cedars said it has been removed from use, and that similar to UCLA, its disinfection procedures have been updated and made more stringent than the manufacturer’s specifications.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA), who met with incoming FDA commissioner Dr. Stephen Ostroff on Wednesday, said, “I believe the new revelations at Cedars show that this problem is larger than people may have believed. Having met with the incoming commissioner, I am optimistic he is very focused on this issue and wants to solve it.”