The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an official warning regarding the use of duodenoscopes, the medical scope that has been spreading the deadly carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae (CRE) infection at UCLA’s Ronald Reagan Medical Center. At least three people have died, several infected, and 179 patients exposed to CRE between October and January. CRE is fatal in 40-50% of all infections.
The medical scopes are notoriously difficult to clean. Previous outbreaks of CRE from contaminated scopes have occurred in Chicago and Seattle. The Seattle hospital that experienced the CRE outbreak insisted that their scopes were cleaned according to the manufacturer’s specifications. The FDA specifically states that “meticulously cleaning duodenoscopes prior to high-level disinfection should reduce the risk of transmitting infection, but may not entirely eliminate it”.
See the FDA’s safety communication here.
