USC Keck School of Medicine officials have confirmed one CRE infection at USC Verdugo Hills Hospital in Glendale, Calif., according to a Glendale News-Press report.
The patient who contracted the infection, caused by carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, is being treated with antibiotics and is in isolation. The patient was in the hospital's intensive care unit.
According to a hospital official, the infection was not caused by a contaminated medical scope, as has been the case in recent CRE outbreaks at hospitals across the country, like at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
"No hospital is infection free," Paul Craig, the hospital's interim chief executive, wrote in a letter to hospital staff, according to the Glendale News-Press. "All superbugs live in healthcare environments, and, in our case, this infection was not contracted through the use of a device."
Mr. Craig also wrote that the hospital is "vigilant in all of our procedures and practices, and we use the latest technologies to treat and prevent infection."