Tainted Scope Infections Far Exceed Earlier Estimates
By Chad Terhune April 15, 2016
The number of potentially deadly infections from contaminated medical scopes is far higher than what federal officials previously estimated, a new congressional investigation shows.
As many as 350 patients at 41 medical facilities in the U.S. and worldwide were infected or exposed to tainted gastrointestinal scopes from Jan. 1, 2010, to Oct. 31, 2015, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
A separate Senate investigation released in January found 250 scope-related infections at 25 hospitals and clinics in the U.S. and Europe. That probe looked at a narrower period, from 2012 to 2015.
The FDA supplied the new information in response to a yearlong inquiry by U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) and staff of the House Oversight and Government Reform committee.
The FDA says it is not permitted by law to name the medical facilities involved in the 41 incidents it disclosed. But the device manufacturers weren’t identified either. The full report is expected to be released Friday.
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