The study was published online in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America.
According to the study, 32 patients at a Washington hospital experienced an outbreak of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae after undergoing a procedure that involved endoscopes.
The endoscope cleaning and sterilizing processes at the hospital were found to be above industry standards by a manufacturer review. Despite having been cleaned beyond the manufacturer’s standards, the scopes harbored bacteria, even after being overhauled by the manufacturer.
According to Dr. Wendorf, the reprocessing guidelines for the scopes should be re-evaluated.
“Public health authorities, regulatory agencies and endoscope manufacturers should consider evaluating the adequacy of reprocessing standards and endoscope design to identify improved strategies for endoscope decontamination.”
More articles on scopes:
Olympus issues urgent update on how to clean scopes linked to CRE outbreak
Are faulty cleaners, not complex scopes, to blame for ‘superbug’ infections?
Contaminated scopes expose patients to E. coli at Hartford Hospital
