UCLA will test new scope-cleaning machine following a superbug outbreak involving three deaths, according to an article on the Los Angeles Times website.
A number of U.S. hospitals have experienced outbreaks of antibiotic-resistant superbugs from tainted duodenoscopes. The Food and Drug Administration, the Justice Department and members of Congress have been investigating the infections and potential safety lapses, the article said.
UCLA's Ronald Reagan Medical Center is scheduled to install the new scope-cleaning machine next week on a trial basis. The machine will be used as an extra cleaning step in addition to what the hospital is already doing.
After an outbreak, UCLA adopted the extra measure of sterilizing its reusable duodenoscopes with ethylene-oxide gas. But gas sterilization comes with a high cost and potential damage to the scopes themselves.
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