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Deadly superbug infects patients at second LA hospital

By Danielle Haynes
Carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae or CRE has been detected in four patients at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Image courtesy of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae or CRE has been detected in four patients at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Image courtesy of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

LOS ANGELES, March 4 (UPI) -- A deadly superbug that caused the deaths of two people at a Los Angeles hospital has infected four new patients at a second hospital in the city, health officials said.

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on Wednesday said the patients were exposed to carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae (CRE) after undergoing a procedure using a duodenoscope.

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The scope is also being blamed for exposing nearly 180 patients at UCLA's Ronald Reagan Medical Center to the bacteria, sickening seven and killing two. It's also been linked to outbreaks in Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Cedars-Sinai said it has removed the particular scope from use at the hospital and is reviewing the disinfection procedure for other scopes. The hospital said one of the four patients infected with CRE died but due to an underlying illness unrelated to the infection, which had already been successfully treated.

The hospital said it is notifying 68 other patients who had undergone a procedure using the scope that spread the bacteria and offering them an at-home CRE-testing kit.

CRE is highly resistant to antibiotics and can be deadly as much as 50 percent of the time when an infection establishes itself in the patient's bloodstream.

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The endoscopes under scrutiny are commonly used to explore a patient's intestinal tract. They may be used for both diagnostic and therapeutic purposes, to find and treat stones, tumors and other maladies.

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