The superbug outbreak in California and North Carolina recently have highlighted a problem with the cleanliness of certain medical scopes, but the anti-biotic resistant bug may not be new news after all.
Bloomberg reported that the same kind of duodenoscopes infected around 70 people and are blamed for 15 of those deaths in an unreported outbreak years ago in Florida.
G. Steve Huard, a spokesman for the Florida Department of Health said that the outbreak occurred in central Florida between 2008 and 2009.
The devices are used for patients who undergo endoscopic procedures and some of those scopes may not have been completely sterilized and therefore could have led to carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, or CRE.
As reported last week, two people died at UCLA and two others at Carolinas HealthCare hospital in Charlotte. In addition, the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center said that more than 175 patients could have been exposed to the superbug.
A spokeswoman for the healthcare facility noted that those patients have all been notified.