New Advisory Panel to Discuss Superbug Prevention
New Advisory Panel to Discuss Superbug Prevention – After a second outbreak of the superbug at another Los Angeles hospital, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has set up a gastroenterology and urology devices panel, which will meet on May 14-15, to discuss the outbreak.
A recent outbreak of an antibiotic-resistant and potentially deadly superbug called CRE at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, caused two deaths and infected many others. It was later found that the bug was transmitted through two endoscopes used during the diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic and bile-duct problems. The FDA has since issued warnings about using the endoscopes, and also said the the devices used in the procedure had not been approved.
The endoscopes have a design flaw that makes cleaning them difficult and increases the chances of infection. The scopes have been associated with such outbreaks before, but what makes them even more dangerous now is that many of the bugs have developed a resistance to antibiotics, and hence, difficult to treat.
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